Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gotham City, June 14th, 2X20

Dick hums to himself while he removes the gloves to his Nightwing suit, watching the others begin removing their gear, a little bored. Patrol had been…okay. Nothing bad had happened, but nothing good had happened either. Honestly the only notable thing that happened was that-

“What the hell is wrong with you, Demon?”

Dick sighs and prepares himself to break up another fight between Damian and Tim.

“Tt. You obviously need to be checked for a head injury, Drake. As you can see I am in peak physical condition.” Damian replies haughtily, glaring up at Tim with his arms crossed and his mask already removed.

“Don’t try and act dumb, something has been up with you all night! The last few days even!” Tim glares back at him. The thing is, Dick noticed, was that Tim was right. Damian had been distracted during patrol for the past few days, which was unheard of from the miniature workaholic. The point only got nailed further home when instead of snapping back at Tim with some sort of scathing remark, Damian instead looks away with a troubled expression on his face. Seeing Damian not escalating a confrontation was all it took for Bruce to interject.

“Damian, is everything okay?” Bruce asks, his expression neutral but his eyes concerned.

Damian sighs, and then looks Bruce in the eye, his expression almost guilty.

“I… I have been keeping a secret from you, at Mother’s behest. However, I now believe that it would be cruel not to tell you.” Damian takes a steadying breath, and if Dick hadn’t been raised by the world’s greatest detective, he wouldn’t have noticed Damian clenching his fists too. “I am not the only child you and Mother had together. I have a twin. Two years before Mother brought me here we were split up, and sent on different missions by Grandfather. I never saw him again after that, but Mother told me his mission was intended to take years to complete.”

And after that metaphorical bomb gets dropped, Dick watches as an absolutely devastated look crosses Bruce's face before he manages to reign it in, closing his eyes and taking a moment to collect himself. Once he’s ready again he opens his eyes and looks at Damian, expression once again neutral but eyes undeniably sad.

“What’s his name?” Bruce asks quietly. Damian seems to study him for a moment before replying.

“His name is Danyal, and he is formidable.”

Amity Park, June 14th, 2X24

Danny couldn’t believe this, a B-?!. He’d been studying for this for weeks and he got a B-?!. Surely Mr. Lancer just made a mistake while he was grading, he’ll have to speak to him on Monday.

“What’s got you looking all scowly.” Tucker and Sam are both looking at him while they’re walking home, the warm summer air lightly breezing past. Danny lets out an exasperated and dramatic sigh.

“Mr. Lancer gave me a B- on our book report, which sucks because I actually tried this time!” Danny throws his arms in the air. With the ghosts finally starting to leave him alone and Vlad coming to terms with the fact his mom is not available, Danny thought he’d finally have time to get his grades back up. Turns out when you miss the majority of the school year the curriculum gets a bit more difficult.

The trio keep walking while talking about their plans for the weekend until they get to the corner of the street, where Danny turns left and Tucker and Sam continue forward. When Danny reaches his house and enters, he immediately notices that something is wrong. It’s not a tangible feeling, the house is the same temperature as always, everything is in the correct spot, even the dust on the bookshelf is the same, but Danny can feel in his gut that something isn’t right.

“Mom? Dad?” He calls while cautiously making his way further inside, making sure to keep his eye on the dark corners and the windows as he walks towards the basement.

“We’re in the lab, Honey!” His mom calls out from downstairs, and he feels some of the tension in his body release. If his parents are okay, then maybe he’s wrong about whatever it is that's setting his League training off. As he walks down the steps however, he notices that the lab is suspiciously quiet, absent are the usual sounds of tinkering and his parents talking to each other. When he gets to the basement door he sees his mom standing a few metres away, looking at him expectantly.

“Your Dad and I have something to show you.” She waves her hand to call him over, and he begins to walk to her. Before he makes it all the way, he sees as her eyes seem to sharpen right as he hears the crackling of electricity behind him. Something jabs into the back of his neck and his throat tightens before he can even let out a scream, and the last thing he sees is his parents' dark forms above him, a modified taser with green electricity in his dads hand.

The last thing he does is press the button in his pocket, which will notify any League of Assassins member in the area that he is in danger.

Chapter Text

Nanda Parbat, January 9th, 2X17

The crisp night air blankets Damian and Danyal where they lie in the sand star gazing, the only sounds they hear is the howling of the wind and the rustling of the sand.

“Do you think we will still be able to do this?”

Damian turns to look at Danyal, from where he’s lying next to him. “What do you mean?”

“When we are older, when you are the Demon’s Head and I am your White Ghost. Do you think we will still be able to lie in the sand like this, and watch the stars?” Danyal asks, eyes still skyward.

Damian smirks, “When I am the Demon's Head, I will make the rules, I will simply tell our servants that we are meeting to discuss secret League information.”

Danyal turns onto his side, and extends his hand towards Damian. “Do you promise? That no matter what, when we are older, we will stargaze together?’

Damian’s smirk softens into a smile, and he reaches out his hand to grasp Danyal’s.

“I promise.”

Amity Park, June 14th, 2X24

Danny wakes up slowly, to a burning sensation on the back of his neck. He keeps his eyes closed, and takes in his surroundings. His back is cold, he’s lying on a table? There are restraints on his wrists, ankles and neck, shit , he’s on the dissection table . 

He opens his eyes and looks around the best he can, strapped to the table and all. He can see the taser that took him out on the table to his left, but his parents aren’t nearby, perfect .

Danny tugs on his core to trigger his transformation, only for him to get electrocuted. He can feel his nerves lighting up with the currents flowing through him, and it is agonising . His eyes close involuntarily despite his struggles, and he can barely hear something through the sound of buzzing electricity and his own heartbeat.

“Sh—-d –e —rn –t off?”

“Y—, w–  do–’t wa–t to d—-ge the spe—-en too mu-h —til we fig—e –ut h— to s–ve Dan–-y”

Danny hears a click , and the electricity shuts off, allowing him to sag back onto the table and take some deep breaths. He blearily blinks his eyes open and sees his mom and dad glaring down at him with stern expressions. His mom opens her mouth and starts speaking, and he can barely figure out what she’s saying through the ringing in his ears.

“What have you done with our son?” She demands of him.

“Huh?” Danny mumbles back.

“We know you’re the ghost boy Phantom , and we know you’ve been pretending to be our dearest Danny. You’re going to tell us what you’ve done with him, so what did you do? Did you hide him away and take his form?” Madeline pauses for a moment and continues looking down at him, the intelligence in her eyes nearly drowned out by the madness . She reaches out and snatches his chin in her hand, her perfectly manicured nails digging in painfully, and tilts his face into the light better. 

“No, those are Danny’s eyes, you’re inside him, you’re inside my boy .” Her voice quivers and her eyes shine with tears before she quickly blinks them away. “Jack, darling, can you pass me my scalpels?”

Danny’s eyes widen and he wrenches his face out of his moms hand and quickly looks over at his dad, who's already coming back to the table with his moms favourite scalpel set, the one he bought for her when he was 12.

“W-wait mom it’s me! I’m Danny! Please let me go, we can talk about this!” He starts to struggle and thrash in his restraints, trying to fall back on his old training to get out.

“Oh, we can’t have that!” His dad says, before he hears another click , and his nerves are set on fire again. Once it ends he falls bonelessly onto the table again and watches detached as his mom starts to cut away at his shirt.

Once she’s finished she looks Danny in the eyes and starts to speak again. “Danny if you can hear me in there, don’t you worry baby, mommy is going to save you from this- this parasite .” and the blade touches his skin.

The first incision burns its way down his chest, from between his pecs to the top of his belly button, he can feel his blood start to well up and spill down his sides, he can feel sterile air trying to make its way into the fresh wound. He tries to do the breathing techniques taught to him by the assassins in his past, but starts to struggle again when Maddie makes the second and third incisions, from the top of the first reaching out to each shoulder.

Breath Danny, you can do this. It’s no different from some of the trials Grandfather would have you and Damian do. Deep breathes, float away from the pain, think about sand and the cool desert air. Think about Stars as far as the eye can see, think about a warm hand, holding your own. Danny's eyes prickle with tears again when he feels his moms fingers sliding through his blood into the gaps of his wound and start peeling his skin back.

For a while he floats in his mind, the sound of his parents' scientific observations replaced with the sound of rustling sand and low murmuring of secret conversations in the night, as he desperately tries to ignore the feeling of hands inside of him.

He never closes his eyes though, and that's how he notices a shadow sneaking up behind Jack and Maddie. To begin with he thinks it’s Jazz having come home from college early to surprise him, but then he notices the dark clothing and the hood, along with the shine of a blade. League , he realises with a spark of hope.

The shadow pounces, and in the next blink of his eyes Jack and Maddie are knocked out on the floor and the assassin is leaning over him removing his restraints. All he can make out is brown eyes and long hair, a mask covering her nose and mouth, but he still recognises her, one of his , he notes with relief, looking at the tiny white scythe embroidered on her belt.

She gently stuffs his organs back into his body, laying his skin flat, before swiftly taking a knee, hand over heart. “I apologise for my tardiness, my Prince, perhaps if I had gotten here sooner you would not have suffered so grievously.”

“Rise.” He manages to croak out of his aching throat, watching as she snaps to attention. She glances at his wounds before speaking again.

“It is my understanding that regular stitches do not work with your physiology, my Prince. What must be done to assist you?” She watches him lift and arm and point to one of the cabinets along the wall with unwavering attention.

“Fenton…. Ecto-Line,....replaces ... .stitches.” He wheezes out this time, and he thanks the League’s practicality when she doesn’t even bat an eye at the name, and beelines towards the wall. She opens the door and grabs a spool, and stops on the way back towards him to raid a first aid kit for a needle. She deftly steps over his parents still breathing forms and notices him watching her.

“I am aware of your dislike of more, permanent, solutions to such obstacles, and I am also aware of your fondness of the two of them. I believed you would have been disappointed if I had killed them.” She tells him clinically, already pinching his skin between her fingers and preparing to put him back together. “Are you ready, my Prince?”

He nods and tries not to squirm or tense too much, and tries not to think of the implications of what this all means.

Gotham City, June 15th, 2X20

Bruce sighs and rubs his hand over his eyes, leaning back in the chair seated at the Batcomputer. He knows who he needs to speak to, after what Damian told him last night, he knows , but he's so angry with her he struggles to make himself dial that number. The screen of the burner phone blinks up at him from his other hand, and he takes a steadying breath before pressing call and holding the phone up to his ear. He listens to the dial tone for a few moments before it connects with a click .

“Beloved.”

“Talia.” He clenches his fist.

“It is unusual for you to call out of the blue like this.” Bruce can hear the smugness in her voice.

“I know about Danyal.” He waits for her reply and then continues on when he gets none. “Where is he, Talia?”

“I do not know.”

He slams his fist onto the table in front of him, “ Don’t lie to me! ”

“I am not, Beloved, Father sent Danyal on a mission during Damian’s Year of Blood, and both him and his escorts disappeared somewhere overseas.” Talia replies soothingly over the phone, and Bruce takes a moment to think over the new information.

“What was the mission?” He inquires.

“...I do not know, Father only told me that it would take years, but if he succeeded the League would be more powerful than ever.” Bruce can only hope that his son still lives.

“So we have nothing? No information at all?”

“His last official sighting was in Egypt, near one of the private airfields, but nothing after that. Father does not seem concerned, so I can only assume that something transpired there.”

“I’ll have Oracle look for him, and Red Robin too.” The line is silent for a few moments before Talia speaks again.

“Find our son, Beloved.” And with that she hangs up, and Bruce is left alone with the sounds of screeching bats once more. He quickly turns on the Batcomputer and connects to the Clocktower. 

“Oracle, I need you to look into something for me.”

Chapter Text

Amity Park, June 15th, 2X24

Danny hobbles along towards Sam’s house, his arm thrown over the shoulder of the assassin next to him, both of them creeping along in the shadows. Every step causes his stitches to pull painfully, but he keeps going without a word. He uses his other hand to pull his phone out of his pocket and text the group chat.

Schrodinger's Boy: Incoming

Schrodinger's Boy: I’m sneaking into your house Sam

I'm Not Emo: Wtf why?

Schrodinger's Boy: Mom and Dad found out

Schrodinger's Boy: Didn’t end well

Schrodinger's Boy: Need to grab the go bag I hid in your room

I'm Not Emo: You hid a bag in my room?!

I'm Not Emo: Where?!

One True Tech King: y is my phone dinging at 3am

One True Tech King: oh he did that ages ago lol

One True Tech King: also do you need me to come over

Schrodinger's Boy: Actually yeah I’m almost at Sams already so I’ll see you there

I'm Not Emo: Danny you can’t just hide stuff in my room!

Schrodinger's Boy: Sure I can <3

I'm Not Emo: You’re lucky I like you.

Schrodinger's Boy: Love ya too Sam

Danny pockets his phone right as they get to the Manson’s place, he signals the assassin to wait in the bush while he flies into Sam’s room, and waves at her when he sees her sitting on her bed in her pajamas.

“Danny, what the hell?” Sam huffs at him with her arms crossed. Danny grins at her and turns his hand intangible, plunging it into the wall next to her bed and pulling out a large black duffel bag with little galaxies sewn onto it.

His grin fades a bit when he remembers what he needs to tell her, and she raises her eyebrow at him. “Well?”

“Let’s wait for Tucker to get here.” Danny sits down on her desk chair, stretching out slightly so as to not pull his stitches. Sam glares at him and doesn’t look away, even when they start to hear scrapes and muttered cursing coming from the window. Danny watches amused as Tucker struggles to get through the window, flopping onto the floor with a low groan. “I hate sneaking into your house Sam, mine is so much easier.”

Danny chuckles before stiffening up in pain, which doesn’t go unnoticed by his 2 friends. Sam’s glare changes into a look of concern, her gaze running across his body looking for injuries. “What happened?”

“Yeah dude, you’re looking a little peaky.” Tucker comments from where he’s sat on the floor.

Danny takes a steadying breath and clenches his fist a little to gather himself. “So, it turns out my parents found out I was Phantom, but instead of talking about it they decided I needed to be captured first. When I got home yesterday they called me into the basement and Dad tased me with an Ecto-taser.” 

Tucker gasps and Sam gets a thunderous look on her face. “They what ?”

Danny nods his head with wide eyes. “They tased me! I woke up on the dissection table. ”

Tucker cuts in with a hopeful look on his face. “Then you phased out and came here?”

“No.” Danny says softly. “No, I tried but they had something hooked up to my restraints. The moment I tried to go ghost it electrocuted me. I didn’t hear them come downstairs before they turned it off, but they were there when I opened my eyes. Mom, she, she looked so angry, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that expression on her face before.”

“She tried to interrogate me a bit, but I was still groggy from the volts. Then she decided that instead of me and Phantom being the same person, that instead Phantom was possessing my body, she called me a parasite .”

By this point both Sam and Tucker are watching him speak with wide, horrified eyes. Danny lifts his shirt, hand shaking slightly, and looks away from them both, towards the night sky in the window. 

“She cut me open.” He continues, voice shaky. “Trying to find whatever it was that she thought was keeping Phantom in my body. Dad helped her too, they kept talking during the whole thing.”

He looks back when he feels a hand on his, unfurling his fingers from their tight grip on his shirt. Sam and Tucker are both standing in front of the chair he’s sitting in, Sam fixes his shirt while Tucker pulls into a hug, Danny’s face in his chest. He feels it vibrate when Tucker starts speaking.

“You can’t go back there, come stay at mine, my parents love you so it’ll be no problem.” Danny shakes his head and mumbles into Tucks chest. “I can’t, they’ll be looking for me in Amity, I need to leave the city.”

Tucker pushes Danny back a little and goes to speak again before Sam cuts him off. “You can’t go alone.”

Danny looks over at her, and is taken aback slightly by the tears in her eyes. When he looks back at Tucker he sees the same thing in his eyes too. Both of them watch him with full attention, gazes unwavering.

“I won’t be.” He confides in them, they both look confused by this so he elaborates a little. “Tucker, do you remember how I was when I first got here?”

“You mean how you were such a little brat?” His closest friend teases. Danny lets out a breathless chuckle before wincing again. “Well, the reason I was like that was because I was raised by religious fanatics before the Fenton’s adopted me. They are a very dangerous group of people, I won’t tell you their name because I know  you’ll go looking as soon as I leave, but they raised me to believe in certain things and act a certain way.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Sam cuts in again.

“I’m getting there.” Danny grins back at her. “When they sent me away, it was in a group. They were meant to act as my guards, but after a while they started to prefer me over, uh, the Leader of the group. They were already meant to take my orders, but then they started to defer to my orders over the ones our Leader gave them. They swore themselves to me in eternal servitude, and when I became Phantom, well, the group, they sort of worship undeath, I suppose you could say. So when I became Phantom, they started to call me a god.” 

Danny lets out a slightly exasperated sigh. “I ordered them to leave me be, and to do what they pleased, but they were never too far away. A town over at the most. One of them is actually the one that saved me tonight.”

Sam and Tucker both watch him with wide eyes before Tucker blurts out, “Oh my god, you have a cult.”

“I didn’t want a cult, it just kind of happened!” Danny is quick to defend himself, hands thrown into the air.

“Wait, so if one of your cultists saved you, where are they now?” Sam asks, sitting back down on her bed.

“Oh, they’re hiding outside in the bushes.” Danny tells her. She raises an eyebrow at him again and Tucker gets a funny look on his face. “Sorry to tell you this dude, but you might need to get better cultists, there wasn’t anyone out there when I got here.”

Danny smirks at them both and looks towards the open window. He cups his hands in front of his mouth and makes an owl call. Both of his best friends look at him funny until they look back and the League member is standing in front of the window. They both gasp and Tucker takes a step back towards Danny protectively, arm in front of him, the assassin looks at him approvingly.

“Shadow, these are my closest confidants, Sam and Tucker, treat their orders as you would my own.” Danny tells her.

The shadow bows deeply towards the three of them. “As you command, my Prince.” She confirms.

Tucker leans down to Danny’s ear and whispers. “Dude that’s a whole ass ninja, you didn’t tell me it’s a ninja  cult.”

Danny laughs before quickly grabbing at his chest and sucking in a breath, teeth grit. The League member keeps standing but begins speaking to him. “My Prince, I do not mean to take you from your allies, however the obstacles will wake soon, and we must be out of the city before they do so.”

That comment brings the tension back to the room again and Sam stands back up and moves towards them. Danny nods towards the shadow and hands her his duffel, telling her he’ll be down in a moment. The moment she leaves Tucker is pulling him up out of the chair and into a fierce but gentle hug. “Don’t you dare ghost us, okay? Otherwise I’ll hunt you down and make you watch all that embarrassing blackmail I have of you from when we were kids.”

Danny huffs out a laugh and hugs back just as fierce. “I wouldn’t dream of it, who else will I send cringe tik toks to at 12am?” 

Tucker laughs too. “You better, you know how much I love watching people embarrass themselves on camera.”

The two of them separate and Danny looks towards Sam, seeing her rummaging around in her bedside table looking for something. “Uh Sam? Whatcha doing there?”

“I knew something like this would happen one day, not what they did but that you wouldn’t be able to stay with them.” She emerges from her bedside with a black envelope that has Danny  written across the front in white cursive, and hands it to him. “A few months after you became Phantom I decided to start putting some of my allowance away in this, just in case you might need it one day.”

Danny looks inside and feels vaguely horrified by the sheer amount of $100 notes she’s managed to shove into it, he looks back up and sputters out, “I can’t take this! It’s too much Sam!”

Sam rolls eyes at him. “Please. We both know that is not even a dent in my overall savings, just shut up and take the money, nerd.”

Danny lets out a sigh, and an okay , before phasing the envelope into his thigh. After, he and Sam quietly look at each other for a few moments, before Danny hesitantly opens his arms and Sam dives into them, hugging him back but being careful not to squeeze. They stay like that for a while before Sam steps back and quickly wipes her eyes with her sleeve. Danny walks towards the window and then looks back towards them with teary eyes. “I love you guys.”

His friends look back at him with tears on their faces. “We love you too.”

Danny flies back down to the shadow, and starts to walk towards the streets again. He turns back towards the silhouettes in the window waves goodbye, and gives a bittersweet smile when they wave back. Him and his shadow begin to sneak their way out of the city, during the start of the dawn. 

“When you told me you had a car just outside city limits this isn’t what I was expecting.” Danny comments as he stares at the monstrosity in front of him. The bright pink paint job is already starting to reflect the light of the morning sun, and the glitter eyelashes stuck above the headlights certainly aren't helping. 

“I lost a bet.” The assassin says from where she’s placing the duffle in the backseat of the van.

“What bet did you have to lose to get stuck with this ?” Danny walks around to van to get a better grasp on the scale of this bet, and is delighted by what he finds. “It has a teal tramp stamp on the back!”

“It was multiple bets.” The assassin opens the driver's side door and gets in, and Danny quickly hops into the passenger seat. The League member then turns the car on and removes her mask before looking at Danny with a small smirk. “You should see the other car.”

She sets off down the road, and Danny is startled out of his next comment when he realises he can’t remember her name . His brain to mouth filter immediately fails him and he blurts out- “Who are you?!”

The assassin glances at him amused and they continue down the highway. “Do you mean to ask me for my name, my Prince?”

Danny flushes slightly and mumbles an affirmative, resolutely staring out of the front windscreen. The assassin pays no mind to his apparent embarrassment. “My name is Nedra, worry not, I did not expect you to remember it, we knew each other a long time ago.”

The League member, newly dubbed Nedra, glances at him again before continuing. “The living members of your original subordinates all live in the same town, would you like me to stop there for the time being? It is too close to Amity to be a permanent solution, but it would do well for a temporary base.”

“You’ve all been staying at Elmerton, right?” Danny continues when he sees Nedra nod. “That seems like a good idea, we can go through the go bag when we get there and make sure we have everything I need before we go too far away from Amity.”

“What is in the bag, if I may ask?” She enquiries.

“Well it has most of the regular stuff, like changes of clothes and toiletries, then it has some of my parents inventions, like a few ecto-dejectos, a boo-merang, a fenton-finder and a few other things, and lastly it has my old League gear. Although I definitely don’t fit in the clothes anymore.” Danny lists off with his fingers. He watches a little melancholy as they pass the ‘Welcome to Amity’ sign, and lets out a small sigh. He decides to distract himself by asking some questions of his own. “What did you get up to when I relieved you of your duties?”

“I took up crochet in between jobs.” Danny waits for her to continue. She does not.

“Is that it? I thought after granting your freedom you’d, I don't know, see the world or something?”

Nedra smiles at him from the driver's seat. “There are two reasons that we decided to stay close by. The first is that most of us have seen enough of the world, and shed enough blood for the spark of travel to dim. The other is that despite your order for us to leave you be, we couldn’t bear to leave you wholly undefended.”

“I don’t need defending.” Danny grumbles to her.

“I am well aware of that, my Prince, I do remember our last spar. However no person, nor creature, is entirely infallible, not even your Grandfather.” She purses her lips when she says the word grandfather, like she’s eaten a particularly sour lemon.

“You know, you never did tell me why you all defected to me.” Danny looks over to her.

“I can’t speak for the others, we all had our own moments in which our loyalties started to waiver. The moment I started to believe in you was when we were making our way through the wilderness and you discovered an injured hare, it was dying and there was nothing that could be done to save it.”

“I remember that.” Danny mumbles, he can remember the soft brown fur of the poor thing, and it’s panicked breathing where it lay on the dirty ground. “I ordered you all to forage for some berries and edible plants.”

Nedra nods her head at him. “I came back before the others, and saw you cradling it in your lap, feeding it some water from your flask, despite the limited amount. When it passed, I saw you close its eyes and lay it down on a bed of leaves, in the shade. I knew then that you were different from your Grandfather, who would’ve left it to suffer. I couldn’t bear to see that empathy cut from you, so I decided not to say anything.”

“You know, Damian was the same.” Danny tells her. “He once snuck an injured bird into our rooms when we were 6, it had a broken wing, I think. We managed to keep a secret for a week before Mother found it, and she was furious. I used to think it was because of us, but now I think she was scared that Grandfather would find it.”

Danny thinks back to that day, remembers the frantic squawking the bird let out when Mother snatched it out of Damian's hands, and more importantly the crack it made when she snapped its neck. “She killed it in front of us, quick and painless. I think that was the last time I saw Damian cry for real.”

Danny is pulled out of his memory when he hears a siren and looks into the rear-view mirror to see red and blue lights flashing. He quickly finger brushes his hair and straightens his clothes to look presentable while Nedra pulls the car over, then proceeds to watch her quickly open the glove box and pull out a blonde wig and fake ID. She places the wig expertly over her own brown hair and plants a sunny smile on her face just in time for a young police officer to come to the window. “Hello Officer! I wasn’t speeding was I?”

Danny tries not to start laughing as he watches a trained killer act like Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. The cop clearly falls for her act, his cheeks a faint red. “No ma’am, we don’t normally see cars on the road this early in the morning so I was just checkin’ up on ya.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you! I was just picking up my little cousin for the weekend.” The cop finally seems to notice Danny in the passenger seat, and Danny gives him an awkward wave. Nedra hands the cop her driver's license, and Danny can see that she’s also blonde in the photo. He watches as the cop gives it a quick once over before handing it back.

“Your cousin seems like a nice kid Ms. Amelia, everything seems to check out here too, so I’ll be letting you go now.” He tips his head towards them.

“I know, isn’t he just the cutest?” ‘Amelia’ gushes at him, as Danny’s cheeks turn beet red again. The officer lets out a chuckle before walking back towards his car. As soon as he’s out of sight Nedra drives out onto the highway again and removes her wig. Danny glares at her from the passenger seat.

“8 years ago I would have stabbed you for that.”

“You would have tried.”

Gotham City, June 15th, 2X20

Tim watches from his seat in the entertainment room as the rest of the family trickles in, some more confused than others. Damian is the first to enter without so much as a snide comment towards Tim, which would normally set him on edge, however he decides he can let it go, since the kid has his mind on other things at the moment. Damian does, however, take the furthest possible seat from Tim, on the other side of the room, on the three seater lounge.

Dick is next to enter the room, a fake smile on his face, but a real hop to his step. Tim decides it’s Dick being happy about a new sibling but upset that they’re still with the League. He gives Tim a quick little wave before sitting next to Damian and trying to engage the kid in conversation, which Damian valiantly ignores. 

The next to enter is surprisingly, Jason, who usually turns up to these types of family meetings either late or not at all. He goes over to the only single seater couch, other than the one Tim himself is in, and falls into it with an annoyed grunt. Dick, also surprised by his appearance, takes one for the team. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, little wing! When I called you said you were busy.”

“Alfred rang me after you.”

“Ah.” Dick wisely drops the subject.

Sometime during that short conversation Cass has appeared on the three seater to Tim’s left, in the spot closest to him. She also gives him a small wave, and a slight smile. Tim smiles and waves back.

Duke quickly bursts into the room and blurts out, “I’m not late am I?!”

Tim shakes his head. “No, we’re still waiting on Steph, Babs and Bruce. Alfred will be back with snacks any moment now too.”

Duke lets out a relieved sigh and moves to sit on Dick’s right, in the last spot on that lounge, and the two start talking about what Signal got up to on patrol. As though summoned, Alfred enters the room with a plate of mini sandwiches, quickly followed by Bruce, who sits next to Cass with creaking knees.

Tim snags one of the cucumber sandwiches as soon as Alfred places the plate on the table, earning himself a raised eyebrow but thankfully no reprimands, the others follow his lead. Stephanie and Barbara enter the room together, the former letting out a scandalised gasp when she sees everyone eating. “You better not have eaten all the good ones!”

They both pick sandwiches from the table, and Stephanie takes the last remaining seat on Bruce’s left while Barbara wheels her chair next to Tims. He gives her a quick look and she shakes her head at him minutely, damn, he thinks to himself, she didn’t find him either .

“Now that everyone's here can we get this shit over with?” Jason grumbles. “I’ve got places to be.”

Bruce lets out a sigh before addressing everyone in the room. “Last night we found out some concerning information, I invited you all here to ask you for your help, this is an all hands on deck situation.”

“I don’t care about whatever it is you’ve done now, next time just text me.” Jason gets up and starts to leave the room.

“A child is in danger.” Jason lets out a groan and turns back to his seat and sits down, much to Tim’s amusement. “Out with it then, old man.”

“It came to my attention that I have another biological child.” Jason lets out a bitter laugh and smiles with bared teeth. Stephanie looks like she’s regretting her choice of sitting between the two, looking at Duke pleadingly, who raises his hands and shakes his head in denial.

“What? Didn’t learn the first time? You’d think after one surprise kid you’d start to wrap it.” Jason sneers, pointing at Damian. Damian glares at the offending appendage while Dick lets out a snort and cuts in, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

“Technically it was from the same unwrapped moment.” Under the glare of Bruce, and more importantly, under Alfred’s raised brows, he quickly tries to backpedal. “I’m just saying! It’s not exactly Bruce’s fault Talia didn’t mention the second one.”

“Second one?” Duke looks perplexed, along with Stephanie, the two sharing a look. “I thought you and Talia broke up after Damian was, uh, conceived?”

“We did.” Bruce grunts. “She just so happened to leave out an important detail.”

Tim lets out a chuckle, looks at Cass, and stage whispers, “The important detail being that Damian has a secret twin.”

“Huh.” Jason squints at Damian. “I would have pegged you as an only child.”

The room quickly descends into people talking over each other and asking questions. Mostly towards Damian, who starts to get overwhelmed but tries to cover it up by pretending to be annoyed. Alfred’s voice cuts through the cacophony, with all the attitude afforded to him and another raised brow. “I believe Master Bruce was still talking?”

Everyone quickly quiets down again and looks to Bruce expectantly, who gives a short, exasperated shake of the head. “The twin, whose name is Danyal, was sent on a mission by Ra’s just under twenty two months ago. When I spoke to Talia last night she told me that she’s unaware of what the mission was, and that Ra’s hadn’t told her what it was for. She also stated that he disappeared somewhere in Egypt fifteen months ago, and hasn't been seen since.”

“Red Robin and Oracle have both looked into it-” Bruce nods to the both of them. “-and have also confirmed this as his last sighting. He and Damian both have the same features, although Danyal has blue eyes, so we are running that through facial recognition. I need everyone to help with this one, we have no idea what Ra’s has him doing, or where he is.”

Jason lets out a sigh and pulls his phone out, texting someone. He gets up and starts to leave the room. “I’ll let the Outlaws know to keep their eyes open, and I'll talk to some of my old League contacts. No promises.”

After Jason leaves everyone else pulls their own devices out and starts messaging their own people, while Damian looks uneasy. Tim turns and makes meaningful eye contact with Bruce, nodding at Damian. Bruce nods back and walks over him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go have a private chat, just the two of us, okay?”

When the two of them leave Tim turns and gives everyone else a deadpan look. “Damian definitely thinks he’s in trouble.”

“Oh yeah.”

Chapter Text

Elmerton, June 15th, 2X24

Danny hops out of the car and stretches, wincing when it pulls his stitches slightly. He looks at the house in front of him, an unassuming suburban home, and turns back to watch Nedra pull their things out of the back seat. He falls into step behind her, and follows her to the front door.

Nedra locks it behind him when they enter and they make their way down the hallway to the living room. Danny looks at the pictures on the walls as they pass, all of which are landscapes of famous monuments, except at night.  The closer they get the more clearly Danny can hear two men arguing with each other playfully, and the sound of video game sound effects.

Once they enter the living room they can see that both men are facing away from them, playing the newest Mortal Kombat on a three seater lounge, one of them hears Nedra shut the door and calls out behind himself. “Hey Nedra, what did the little prince want?”

Nedra turns to Danny with a quirked brow and mischief in her eyes, Danny grins back at her. “I don’t know if I’d really count as little anymore, I’m pretty sure I’ve had a growth spurt since we last saw each other.”

At the sound of his voice both the men jerk out of the chair, controllers clattering to the floor, and turn swiftly to take a knee. The one on the left has dark brown hair and hazel eyes, while the one on the right has darker features, with dreadlocks in his hair. The one on the left speaks again. “Apologies my Prince, we were unaware of your arrival.”

Danny lets out a sigh and watches amused as both men tense. “Look, before we continue any further we’re going to have to clear something up.”

Both the men tense even more, and Danny beckons Nedra over to stand next to where the men are kneeling so he can address them all at once. “You all really need to stop calling me ‘my Prince’, okay?”

The men look up shocked while Nedra stares at Danny silently. The man on the right speaks to Danny this time. “But my Prince! To stop calling you by your title would be a grave insult!”

Danny can’t help but snort at the phrasing, and continues his current mission. “Well, we’re currently trying to stay on the down low, it’s going to raise some red flags if random civilians hear you three call me ‘my Prince’ all the time, now isn’t it.”

The male on the left opens and closes his mouth a few times, obviously trying to come up with an excuse much to Danny's chagrin. “If you keep arguing about it I’ll make it an order, then you’ll have to call me Danny, even when we’re in private.”

Both the men look at Danny with wide eyes, before the one on the left dips his head towards Danny, the one on the right quickly following suit. “As you command, m- uh, Danyal.”

Danny smiles at the two and tells them both to rise, then nods at the TV. “Mind putting the news on? I need to see if there’s anything from Amity.”

The one on the right, Danny really needs to ask for their names, grabs the tv remote and starts flipping through news channels, with Danny lazily watching along. Between one channel and the next, Danny notices the familiar glint of a blade, and he feels his eyes widen slightly. “Wait! Go back one channel!”

The assassin startles but quickly does as he says, changing to a news report from Metropolis. Danny watches, enraptured, as a group of super-powered people, the Titans , his mind supplies, fight off a group of giant toy nutcrackers. The reporter, Cat Grant live from Metropolis , keeps talking. “-oyman has once again started a rampage through the city, as you can see from behind me. With the Titans on the scene property damage and casualties are being kept to a minimum. The Toyman, also known as Wins-”

Danny tunes her out when he sees that flash of silver again, his eyes tracking the movement. There, standing on the shoulder of one of the robots, is a hero with a very familiar katana in their hand. Danny watches as the blade is sunk into the joint where the arm meets the torso, severing the limb. When the hero stands back up Danny can see grey body armour reminiscent of the League, and a red R on the left side of his chest.  He watches as the hero, Robin , leaps off the nutcracker and lands near the camera, turning and frowning at how close the civilians are to the battle with a ‘tt.’

And Danny, well, Danny would recognize that blade, that attire, and that attitude anywhere. He turns his head towards the group of assassins and glares. “Why the hell is Damian Robin? ” 

Gotham City, June 15th, 2X20

Bruce keeps an eye on Damian as they make their way through the halls, towards his office. He’s tense but trying to hide it, his shoulders have a false relaxation to them. Bruce frowns and Damian notices, quickly lifting his chin imperiously, obviously trying to mask his own discomfort. Bruce opens the door for him when they get to his office and quietly closes it behind them. Damian walks over and sits in one of the chairs in front of the desk, and Bruce sits in the one next to him, rather than his usual spot on the other side of the desk. 

Damian is tense, and not looking at Bruce, his eyes instead on the window to the backyard. “I’m not angry.”

Damian eyes whip around to Bruce, slightly wider. “What?”

Bruce offers him a slight smile. “I’m not angry. I’m a little sad that Danyal’s not here with us, and I’m hurt that your mother didn’t tell me about him when she brought you to me, but I’m not angry, at least not with you.”

Damian looks at him for a moment more before replying, “You should be.”

Bruce can feel his smile turn a little sad at that. “But I’m not, I’m actually glad, and a little happy.”

Damian shoots him an incredulous look, so Bruce decides to elaborate. “I’m glad that you told me, rather than waiting for someone else to do it for you. And I’m happy because I have another son out there somewhere, and that you trusted me enough to tell me about him.”

Damian lets out a slightly startled breath at that, before quickly schooling himself. “It would not be right, to continue being here without him, and lying to you about him.”

“Your mother said she doesn’t know what his mission is, and I know you said you didn’t either, but do you have any clues to what he might be doing?” Bruce decides to ask him.

Damian shakes his head slightly before replying. “No, we were trained separately as often as we were trained together. I do not want to believe he would have kept something important from me, but I can not be completely certain.”

Bruce frowns at Damian in minor confusion. “If you were both to be in line for the Demon’s Head why would you be trained separately?”

Damian shakes his head again. “Because Danyal was not going to become the Demon’s Head, that was to be my role. Danyal was to be my White Ghost.”

“Did they decide this when you were born?” Bruce asks, concerned.

“No, we were initially meant to be in competition with each other, whoever was stronger would become the Demon’s Head, and the other would fulfil a role similar to Mother’s.” Damian replies with a little furrow in his brow.

Now Bruce was just plain curious. “What changed?”

At this question Damian looks away back to the window hastily, his breath coming out a little shaky before he calms himself. It immediately sets off red flags in Bruce’s mind. Damian glances back at Bruce and then down at his own lap, uncharacteristically fiddling with his fingers. He clenches his hands and takes a breath, then starts to speak again. 

“We were little, around seven years old I believe, and we were out in the training field sparring. Grandfather was watching us, so we were both trying the best we could to win. To begin with we had been winning pretty evenly, but during the eighth round Danyal had twisted his ankle and had lost the next four matches consecutively.” Damian lets out a soft sigh before continuing.

“He was getting frustrated and angry with me, I could tell, and the pressure of Grandfather watching us was making it worse. During our final match, out of nowhere, he threw his blade and tackled me, covering my body with his.” Bruce watches, alarmed, as Damian’s lip starts to quiver, and opens his mouth to speak when he’s interrupted.

“There was an assassin in the crowd, they had been one of our nannies I believe. I did not see him at the time, he was behind me, but he had used our moment of distraction to try and kill us. Mother had later told me that he had been trying to do it out of ‘mercy’. Danyal had seen him preparing to throw his knives at my back and had thrown his blade at him. It pinned his arm to the wall but not in time to stop the throw. He had covered my body so that the blade would not hurt me.” 

This time Bruce cuts in before Damian continues. “Damian, you need to stop and take a moment, this story is obviously affecting you.”

Damian looks at Bruce defiantly with scowl, pointedly continuing where he left off, despite the suspicious shine to his eyes. 

“The blade from the assassin had caught him in the neck, and he bled out on top of me in seconds.”

And Bruce feels like the floor falls out from beneath him. 

Elmerton, June 15th, 2X24

“ WHAT ?!” Danny roars, despite the way it hurts his chest.

“My Prince! Please don’t yell, the neighbours may hear!” Unnamed assassin number one asks, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry , you just told me that Grandfather tried to bodysnatch my brother .” Danny hisses back to him through clenched teeth. He can see Nedra standing to the side with a guilty frown on her face, and rounds on her. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Nedra sighs and sits down on the couch. “By the time we heard about the situation, your mother had already taken preventative measures. He was left in the Batman’s care, and you had already ordered us away from you. There was nothing to be done.” 

Danny growls and aggravatedly runs his hands through his hair to quell the urge to start throwing things. He opens his mouth to retort that they had no right to keep this from him when he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket, a quick glance at it shows Jazz is Calling on the screen. He looks at the trio in front of him, still scowling, and inquires, “Is there somewhere private I can answer this?”

Unnamed assassin number two, he really needs to ask their names, nods and leads him back down the hallway to one of the doors. “This is our guest room, take all the time you need my Prince.”

Danny watches him walk back down the hallway and then quickly ducks into the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He looks around the room for a moment, plain sheets, an empty desk and a mirror, before returning his attention back to the phone currently vibrating in his hand. He sighs and then answers.“Hey Jazz.”

“Danny! Are you okay? ” She sounds worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Danny rolls his eyes.

“Don’t lie to me, Sam just called and told me what happened, Mom and Dad really did that? ” She asks hesitantly, a slight tremor in her voice.

Danny lets out an amused huff, “If she told you what happened, then why did you bother asking if I was okay?”

“I don’t know, I just, I didn’t know they were capable of that. ”

Danny gets a bitter smile on his face and replies, his voice soft. “Yea, I didn’t think so either.”

There’s an awkward moment of silence on the phone, the only sound being their collective breathing, before Jazz starts speaking again. “ ...are you safe? ”

Danny’s smile becomes a bit happier while he replies. “Yep, I’m with a couple of my old acquaintances in Elmerton at the moment, we’ll probably be moving on soon though.” 

“Oh good, I was getting ready to come and get you. Mom and Dad can’t track your phone? ”

“Nah, I got a new phone a few months back and hadn’t given them my new number yet. Plus I’m pretty sure Tucker and Technus encrypted this thing with so much cloaking tech not even Cyborg himself would be able to find me.” Danny smirks.

“Do you need anything? ” Jazz continues to mother-hen, “ I can send you some money? ”

Danny huffs out a small laugh. “Jazz, really, I’m okay for the moment.”

“ .......did you turn the portal off before you left?”

Shit. “Shit.”

This time it's Jazz’s turn to laugh across the phone. “ I’ll go take care of it. I knew you’d forget something, you always do. ”

“Yeah, I’ve had a lot on my mind at the moment.” Danny sighs again, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Anything I can help with?”

“No, I just found out about something Grandfather did to my brother while I was gone, and I’m really angry with him.”

“Your twin? His name is Damian right? ”

“Yeah. I can’t believe what happened after I left, I don’t think angry is even the right word for how I feel right now.”

“Well, ” Jazz starts off, a knowing tone to her voice, “What are you going to do about it? ”

Danny looks at the mirror, his eyes glowing Lazarus green, and an idea sparks in his mind.

“I’ll hit him where it hurts.”

Chapter Text

Gotham City, June 16th, 2X20

“He was revived in a Lazarus Pit?”

Dick watches Bruce from across the table, the only other sounds in the cave are the rustling of bats and the whir of technology. Dick can feel that his brows are furrowed in concern, but ignores it in favour of listening to Bruce. 

“That’s what Damian told me, he said that’s when Ra’s started to split their training up and decided to have Danyal be the White Ghost.” Dick looks at Bruce during his explanation, taking note of the fact that he’s pinching the skin on the bridge of his nose, a migraine.

“Did he tell you about any symptoms? Pit Madness, increased healing, anything like that?” Dick inquires.

“No.” Bruce sighs. “He mentioned that Danyal had started to act a bit odd sometimes, but refused to elaborate when I pressed him for details.”

Dick leans back in his chair, crosses his arms, and narrows his eyes at Bruce. “What did you do?”

Bruce looks at Dick and huffs. “I didn’t do anything.”

Dick points his finger at Bruce and keeps glaring. “Yes you did, you always do something stupid after an emotionally charged conversation.”

“I told him to take the night off as Robin and have some alone time in his room for a bit. He always seems better after having some time to himself.” Bruce narrows his eyes back at Dick, as if challenging him to find a flaw in his logic. Dick accepts.

“So you benched him from patrol and sent him to his room?” Dick gets up from his chair while Bruce sits there acting surprised. Dick can feel his teeth grinding in anger. “You’d think after five kids you learn how to have a fucking conversation.”

Bruce gets up from his chair too. “I’ll go speak-”

“No.” Dick cuts in. “You’ve done enough. I’ll go speak to Damian, let him know you didn’t mean to put him in time out.” 

With that Dick turns around and storms off, missing Bruce slumping back into his chair with an almost crestfallen look on his face.

Elmerton, June 15th, 2X24

“Nedra, I have an idea!” Danny says as he appears back in the living room, startling the three assassins who were talking.

“An idea for what, Danyal?” Nedra asks with a raised brow, the other two assassins looking at him in confusion. Danny flashes them a shark-like grin, all pointy teeth. “An idea to get revenge on Grandfather of course.”

The trio looks at him in shock as Danny grabs the duffel Nedra left on the couch, opening the zipper and rifling through the contents. “If he thought he could try to steal my brother's body while I was gone, without consequence, he has another thing coming.”

Danny emerges from the duffel bag with an old piece of tech in his hand, still grinning. He waves the wire covered screen at the three of them. “And this is going to be how.”

“I’m sorry my Prince, I don’t understand?” The hazel-eyed assassin asks, and Danny decides to nip his largest problem in the bud before it becomes down-right embarrassing. He sits on the couch, crossed legged, and pulls a screwdriver out of the duffel.

“Okay, I need the two of you-” Danny points at the two male assassins with the screwdriver. “-to tell me something very important before I share my super awesome master plan with the three of you.”

The two of them both straighten back up into perfect posture while Danny starts to use the screwdriver to retighten some of the looser parts on his device. The one on the right speaks this time. “Anything, my Prince.”

Danny pauses his tinkering to look at them, giving them a genuine smile. “I need you to tell me your names.”

The shocked looks on their faces makes Danny feel guilty for not asking when he was a child, but Nedra’s small smile from where she’s standing off to the side makes him feel a little better. The one on the left speaks softly. “Our names? But the Demon’s Head never asked for our names?”

Danny wrinkles his nose at the mention of his grandfather, and looks down to keep tinkering with his device. “That’s because Grandfather is a conceited old fruitloop who only cares about himself. He’d rather you all be nameless pawns rather than putting in any effort whatsoever to get to know those who would die for him. The three of you aren’t just nameless soldiers to me, if you’re going to fight with me, I want to know who you are, what your interests are, that kind of stuff. You should be friends first, and subordinates second.”

He finishes fixing the device while he is speaking, and looks up at the trio when the room continues to be silent. Nedra is standing there with a proud smile on her face, but it’s the expressions on the faces of the other two that surprise him. The one on the left, with the hazel eyes, looks like he’s about to cry, his mouth parted in quiet awe and hands clasped together. The one on the right, with the dreadlocks, has wide eyes, his arms hanging limply by his sides. He’s the one that speaks first. “Duncan.”

Danny blinks at him in surprise, then the assassin speaks again. “My name, it’s Duncan.”

Danny shakes the surprise away and sits the device in his hand on the coffee table, then stands. He makes his way to the assassin and holds his hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Duncan.”

He can see Duncan look at his hand with an unreadable expression, before gently grabbing it and shaking it once, a small smile on his face. “And you as well, Danyal.”

The only unnamed assassin in the room finally seems to shake himself out of his surprise and rushes over to Danny, grabbing his left hand in both of his, clumsily shaking it in an incredibly awkward manoeuvre that he seems oblivious to. “My name is Malcolm, my Prince! It’s very good to meet you!”

Danny lets out a chuckle, the sound of it not reflecting how weird he feels at this sudden turn of events, and shakes Malcolm's hands as well. “And you as well, Malcolm.”

At this Malcolm’s eyes become shiny with tears again, and Danny starts to panic slightly. Luckily he’s saved by Nedra interrupting the moment. “Now that proper introductions are out of the way, would you like to continue telling us your plan, Danyal?”

Danny quickly slips his hand out of Malcolm’s, politely ignoring the dejected look on his face at the action, and grabs his device off the coffee table. He sits cross legged on the couch again and impatiently waits for the trio to take their seats as well. As soon as everyone is seated he begins. “What is most important to Grandfather?”

The three look at each other before Duncan hesitantly speaks up. “His power?”

“Nope.” Danny replies, popping the p. “Kind of close though.”

“His intellect?” Malcolm asks, and looks genuinely upset when Danny shakes his head. Danny gives himself a mental note to try and fix this before it becomes even weirder, but he has something more pressing at the moment.

“His life.”

Danny looks at Nedra and gives her a grin. “Exactly! Now, I’m not going to kill him, I don’t do that, but I can do the next best thing.”

“And that is?” Nedra asks, but Danny can tell by her expression that she already knows.

“I’m going to destroy the Lazarus Pits.” Danny can feel his grin becoming a bit too feral, the skin on his cheeks stretching and too many teeth showing, but he just can’t help himself. At least the three sitting across from him don’t seem too unsettled by it. Duncan is the one to speak up now. “What is your plan for this, Danyal?”

“Well-” Danny is cut off by the feeling of fog in his throat, and the last thing he sees is Nedra launching herself out of her chair and reaching for him. Between one blink and the next his vision is completely covered in green.

Gotham City, June 16th, 2X20

Dick relaxes his clenched fists as he makes his way to Damian's Room, rolling his shoulders to relieve the angry tension there. Once he gets to his door he shakes out his arms and then knocks, not waiting for a reply before waltzing in.

Damian quickly closes his artbook and sets it on his bedside table with his pencils, Dick barely gets time to see two blue eyes on the page before it’s hidden away. Damian sends Dick an icy glare. “People typically wait until entrance is granted before they let themselves into someone's room, Grayson.”

Dick gives him shit-eating grin. “Well, you would have said no , like a meany, and we need to have a conversation, baby bird.”

Dick sits down on the edge of the bed and taps the space next him, looking at Damian expectantly. Damian rolls his eyes and scoots over into the vacant spot, looking at Dick with a weary expression. Dick gives Damian a serious look, and rests his hand on Damian’s shoulder. “Bruce means well, but he’s an asshole.”

Damian opens his mouth to argue and Dick shakes his head, giving Damian’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “Just listen for a moment, okay?”

Damian huffs at him, but doesn’t interrupt, so Dick continues. “Bruce grew up functionally alone, he had Alfred and no one else, so he never really had to explain what he was thinking to others. Obviously this helped as Batman, but as a father? It makes him seem very emotionally unavailable.”

Dick moves his hand up to Damian’s head, gently ruffling his dark hair with a smile. Damian blinks up at him. “He didn’t realise he was basically grounding you for not telling him about Danyal’s Lazarus symptoms, he thought he was doing the right thing by giving you space.”

Dick’s smile evens out to a more serious expression. “It’s no excuse, after all the things that happened between him and the rest of us he should have learnt something, which is why I said he’s an asshole. But, in his defense, he has gotten a little bit better about it since I was a kid.”

Damian slips his head out of Dicks hand and shuffles away from him a bit on the bed, leaving more room between the two of them. “I don’t want Father to judge Danyal for things out of his control, especially when they have not met before.”

Dick tilts his head slightly, reading between the lines. “So there are side-effects?”

Damian’s eyes flicker up to Dick’s face, holding him in pretty intense eye contact. “Promise me you will not tell him, unless there is an emergency.”

Dick doesn’t even need to think about it before he answers. “I promise.”

Damian looks down at his lap, and fiddles with his fingers. Dick reaches over and gently places one his hands on top, stilling the action. He’s mildly surprised when Damian doesn’t remove his hands from under Dick’s. “He was fine, for the first week.”

Damian shuffles back over to Dick, hesitantly placing his head on Dick’s arm. Dick has to fight not to tense up in surprise at the out of character action. “Then one night I woke up in the middle of the night, and he was not in his bed. I went out looking for him, he was at none of our regular spots, none of the common areas, and was not meeting with any superiors.”

Dick gives Damian’s hands an encouraging squeeze, and Damian lets out a quiet sigh. “I started to get a foreboding feeling, so I went and checked the Lazarus Pit. And there he was. Just standing at the edge of it, staring down. He was mumbling to himself, and when I got close enough I could see his pupils were blown. I grabbed his arm and started to pull him away, and I asked ‘What are you doing down here?’, and he looked at me and said ‘Can’t you hear them? They’re calling for me.’. The whole time I led him back to our room, he was in some sort of trance, he kept looking in the direction of the pit, like he could see it through the walls. Even when I put him to bed he still kept muttering, and I fell asleep before he stopped. When we woke up the next morning, he didn’t remember a thing. It was not the last time I found him like that.”

Dick takes a deep breath while he processes the information, his mind catapulting from one theory to the next. He removes his arm from under Damian’s head, instead wrapping it around his shoulders in a side hug.

“Thank you,” He says. “For telling me.”

Chapter Text

???, ???

Danny knows where he is immediately, his body able to recognise the touch of the Infinite Realms anywhere. His core aches when he transforms into Phantom, like a bruise and a pulled muscle all at once, but the ectoplasm in this part of the Realms is incredibly rich, and it soothes him, almost like a balm.

Danny spins in a circle, looking around for any landmarks, but the area around him is completely bare of any land masses. All he sees is an endless sea of emerald green.

“Hello, Danyal.” A familiar voice greets from behind him. Danny whips around to look at the previously empty spot now occupied by a good friend of his.

“Clockwork!” Danny calls out to him with a grin, floating closer to him until there's a comfortable distance between the two. “I should have known it was you! You're really the only one that can sneak up on me like that anymore.”

“It's good to see you, Danyal, but I'm afraid this isn't a social call.” Clockwork's form quickly shifts, from old man, to child, then adult. “I have urgent news from the Observants.”

Danny leans back and lets out a dramatic groan, all petulant teenager. “I hate those guys!”

He can see Clockwork let a small smile slip by before he continues. “The Observants have been causing a fuss since you were crowned The High Prince of the Infinite Realms, by their opinion, you've yet to commit an act devoted to the betterment of the Realms.”

“What,” Danny grumbles, arms crossed. “Kicking Pariah Dark’s ass wasn't good enough for them?”

“It would appear so.” Clockwork answers serenely. “They've been going through scrolls of things that had been left to the wayside once Pariah Dark was imprisoned 

, to find you something to do. I decided that I would help them decide, out of the kindness of my heart.”

“Right.” Danny says with snort, remembering that Clockwork doesn't technically have a heart.

Clockwork continues as if Danny hadn't spoken. “With my guidance, they were able to identify an incredibly dangerous individual who has been breaking many of the sacred laws, and they have tasked me with bringing this urgent matter to your attention.”

Danny narrows his eyes slightly, knowing Clockwork wouldn't willingly work with the Observants without reason. “You know, I was kind of in the middle of something before you snatched me?”

“The Observants have ordered you stop your ‘useless mortal endeavours’,” Danny can practically hear the quotation marks, despite Clockwork not making indication of them. “ And prosecute this individual.”

Danny watches Clockwork quietly, waiting for the catch. He doesn't disappoint. “This individual is known as Ra's al Ghul.”

Danny's breath hitches slightly while Clockwork continues speaking. “He's being charged with the unlawful use of corrupted ectoplasm, for using ectoplasm as a means of regeneration without the permission of The Crown, and for breaking the sacred law protecting Realms ghosts from being summoned to their corpses.”

“Oh.” Danny says, blinking in surprise, before catching onto what Clockwork is hinting at and clearing his throat. “Well, that does sound very urgent, I'll stop my ‘useless mortal endeavours’ and get right on to it.”

“Wonderful. They’ve allowed you access to any resources you may need.” Clockwork's form changes again, adult, toddler, then old man one more. “Now, how about a conversation between friends? Since the urgent business has been discussed.”

“Yeah, that sounds good, I've actually got a question for you.” Danny spreads his arms out, emphasising the empty space around them. “Where the hell are we?!”

Gotham City, June 16th, 2X20

Once Dick can feel Damian start to get agitated by the half-hug, he removes his arm from around the kid's shoulder, tucking both hands loosely in his lap. He chews his lip contemplatively, before speaking up again. “I think you should tell Tim, and maybe Jason too.”

Dick is unsurprised when Damian whips his head towards him, a viscous glare on his face. “You swore you would not tell!”

Dick raises his hands in surrender. “Okay, firstly, I promised not to tell Bruce , and secondly , I’m not necessarily telling the other two, I’m just suggesting you do.”

Damian crosses his arms, still leveling a steely glare a Dick. He thinks to himself that he’s glad that the kid doesn’t have Kryptonian heat-vision. “Tt. And why would I tell those two imbeciles?”

Dick lets out an exasperated sigh. “Look, I know you have some sort of beef with Tim-” Dick can see Damian scrunch his nose up adorably at the phrasing. “-But he’s still the only person I’ve ever seen tell a bold faced lie to Batman’s face and get away with it. Trust me, he’ll keep it a secret from Bruce.”

Dick can see Damian grumble something under his breath before asking, “And Todd?”

Dick gives Damian a bittersweet smile. “Jason also has a peculiar relationship with the Pits, if anyone understands what Danyal is going through, it would be him. And we both know Bruce wouldn’t be able to get the information out of him.”

Damian’s shoulders visibly slump in defeat. “I suppose, if you think I should.”

“I do.” Dick says with a triumphant grin. “We can go see them tomorrow, don’t worry, I’ll organise it, and I’ll take care of distracting Bruce too.”

Dick gets off of the bed with a stretch, feeling satisfied when his back cracks all the way up. He quickly ruffles Damian’s hair and dodges out of the way of all of Dami’s half hearted attacks. “I’m gonna head to bed and I suggest you do the same.”

He heads to the bedroom door and turns around right before he leaves. “And Dami?”

Damian rolls his eyes with a huff. “Yes, Richard?”

“I love you, little brother.” He lets out a chuckle at Damian’s blush and wide eyes, leaving quickly before he retaliates.

???, ???

“The Infinite Realms are constantly expanding,” Clockwork states, ignoring Danny’s raised brow at his seemingly ignored question. “For every new belief, religion, multiverse, or any of the like, it grows. It has no beginning and no end. However.”

Clockwork uses his staff to indicate the area around them. “If the Realms had a middle, had a heart? This would be it. Right now, Danyal? We are in the very core of the Realms itself.”

Danny can feel his eyes widen in surprise, and he quickly whips around to look at the space around them in a slow circle. “How do you know?”

“You already felt it, Danyal, when you arrived here, it nursed you back to health.”

Danny looks back to Clockwork, his hand drifting to his chest. “It did that on purpose?”

“Of course, you are the High Prince, after all. One of the few beings the Realms will allow here.” Clockworks smiles at him.

“But…. Why did you bring me here?” Danny tilts his head to the side.

“The Realms choose who may enter here, and the list is very, very short. Any other places had a high probability of interruption.” Clockworks form flickers again.

“Now, there’s something you need to hear at this moment, remember these words Danyal.” Danny nods his head, hesitantly.

“You are one with the Realms, they will bend to your whims, and yours alone. Your form is what you will it to be, trust yourself. Do you understand?” Clockwork is looking at Danny, and Danny just feels overwhelmed.

“No?” He answers Clockwork in a questioning tone, his voice high.

“You will.” Clockwork says with certainty in his voice. “Now, I must return you to your new knights, they are growing more concerned for your safety the longer you are here.”

Clockwork suddenly gives Danny a firm, but gentle push. Danny can feel gravity sucking him backwards into a portal. “Wait!”

Danny sees Clockwork’s face with a small smile before he’s falling again.

“Everything is as it should be.”

Chapter Text

Gotham City, June 17th, 2X20

Tim taps his pen against his notepad, eyes narrowed at Damian, who glares back at him from where he’s standing across the room. Dick stands to Damians left and watches the two of them for any sign of fighting. Jason is sitting on the couch to Tims left, disassembling his guns and cleaning them, paying no mind to the oil he’s getting all over Tim’s nice, new coffee table. He feels his eye twitch. “Why did we have to do this at my place?”

He doesn’t look away from Damian while Dick answers. “Because out of the three of us that live away from the manor, your place is the most secure, and we don’t want Bruce butting in.”

“Right.” Tim says with a huff, leaning back in his chair and finally looking away from Damian. “And we’re not telling Bruce because we don’t want him making snap judgements about the kid, or getting all mopey about his symptoms.”

“Exactly!” Dick exclaims with a tense smile. Tim can hear Jason grumble something under his breath about Bruce, but he elects to just ignore it. He glances down at the notes he’s  written, then turns the page horizontally and draws a crude line, writing Danyal’s Resurrection at the start in his usual chicken scratch.

Tim chews his pen with a hum, eyebrows drawn together in contemplation. “How long after Danyal was revived did you notice him start to act strange?”

“I already told you, about a week.” Damian continues to glare at him. Tim draws a small vertical line on the horizontal one and labels it First Contact.

“And how often after that did it happen again?” Tim glances up at Damian, tapping his pen impatiently.

“I would catch him away from our room about two or three times a month after the first time, at about three months he gradually stopped.” Damian's gaze has softened slightly in thought, and Tim quickly looks back down at his page, drawing more lines at roughly the right spots.

“When did Ra’s start to split the two of you up for training?”

Damian lets out a frustrated huff at the near interrogation. “About five months after he was revived. Are you content yet?”

Tim has to fight the smirk battling its way to his face while he jots down more notes. “No. How often did Ra’s split you both up?”

Tim can see Damian start to clench and unclench his hands in annoyance, and prepares to roll out of the way of a blade, seeing Jason also tense up to his left. Luckily for the three of them, Dick Grayson is there to keep the peace. “C’mon Dami, it’s the last question, right Tim ?”

Tim looks at Dick and could only describe his expression as his Please Play Along face. He lets out a long suffering sigh. “Yes, Dick, that’s my last question.”

“Tt.” Damian shuffles on his feet slightly before answering. “He would separate us for a few days each week, although the days varied.”

Tim feels a bolt of dread shoot down his spine as he looks down at the crude timeline he’s drawn on the page. Tim chews his lip slightly and then breaks his deal with Dick. “Damian, the days Ra’s separated you and Danyal, would you say that they would’ve matched with the days Danyal visited the pits?”

Tim can see everyone in the room tense at that question, Jason in particular finally looks away from where he’s been cleaning his guns and towards Tim, his eyes starting to glow faintly in warning. Tim resolutely keeps his own eyes on Damian, watching as his eyes widen in realisation and his face pales slightly. Dick reaches over and places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Yes.”

His voice comes out the quietest Tim has ever heard it. He can see Dick move his hand from one shoulder to the other, pulling him into a sort of side hug, something Tim knows Damian almost never allows in the presence of others. Tim hesitates for a moment before continuing. “I think that two month gap where he didn’t have any incidents? He was probably still having bouts of Pit Madness, but was getting better at hiding it.”

Jason finally cuts in, eyes still glowing a faint green, assembled gun in hand. “That makes sense, it took me about the same amount of time to really realise what I was doing too.”

“But why did he not tell me?!” Damian’s arms have been uncrossed, and his face has gone from pale to bright red in his frustration. “He knows I would not have told a soul!”

Tim chews on his lip again before answering.”I think out of everyone in this room, you’d know the answer to that question best.”

Damian looks at Tim for a few beats, before loosing a breath and slumping his shoulders, wind seeming gone from his sails. He seats himself in the chair across from Tim for the first time that night, thinking for a moment. When he speaks his voice has a watery sound to it.

“He did not want me to worry.”

Elmerton, June 16th, 2X24

Danny lets out a small oof as he lands on the couch, the glowing green portal above him closing without a sound. He has barely any time to reorient himself before there are hands on his face, frantically tilting his head this way and that. “My Prince!”

Nedra’s face is in front of his own, her brown eyes darting across his body, presumably looking for any new wounds or injuries. Danny raises his own hands up and gently grasps Nedra’s wrists, removing them from his face. “I’m okay.”

Nedra lets him move her arms away, and she visibly relaxes at the sight of Danny whole and unhurt. He can see Malcolm and Duncan over her shoulder, both of them looking relieved as well, although Malcolm has a hand clenched in his shirt over his heart. Danny looks back at Nedra when she speaks again. “What happened ?”

Danny gives her a small, carefree grin while he answers. “One of my ghost allies wanted to speak with me, it was very urgent.”

“Danyal,” Nedra looks at Danny with furrowed brows. “You were gone for hours .”

Danny blinks at her in surprise and glances towards the window, the sunset in the distance casting the room in pale oranges. “Oh.”

It’s then that Danny notices the contents of his duffel bag have been up-ended onto the coffee table and strewn into piles. He raises his brow pointedly. The assassin trio follow his gaze to the table and Malcolm practically dives on it in his franticness to clean it up and put it all into neater piles. Duncan tenses slightly, waiting for a reprimand, and Nedra looks at Danny completely unrepentant. “You mentioned on the way here that you had some sort of finder? We went looking for it, but…”

Nedra turns slightly so she’s facing both Danny and the table, waving at the newly tidied pile of electronics. She lets out a quiet huff. “... I have no idea what we’re looking at.”

Danny lets out a chuckle and hides a yawn behind his hand before moving over to the table, picking the Fenton-Finder up and showing it to the trio, who all lean over the top of it in anticipation. “This is the Fenton-Finder, and unfortunately, it wouldn’t have done what you had wanted anyway.”

Malcolm and Duncan both sag in disappointment while Nedra stands there pretending to be unsurprised. Jokes on you Nedra, Danny can see straight through you. Danny fiddles with the Finder for a moment, before pressing the on button and handing it to Nedra. She grasps the device hesitantly, the antennas on the end facing Danny. “There is a ghost directly ahead of you.”

The voice coming from the Finder is robotic and stilted, sounding feminine. Malcolm and Duncan lean over Nedra’s shoulders, glancing down at the radar screen on the device. “You would have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghost directly ahead.”

Danny reaches over and switches the Finder off before it starts rambling. He plucks it from Nedra’s hand and chucks it in an arc over the coffee table and into the open duffel sitting on the couch. “As you can see, it’s not the best ghost detector, basically a glorified EMF, but I figured I could modify it at some point. You would have had more success with the Boo-merang, but I’ll show you how to use that later.”

Danny sits back down on the couch, and waits for the trio to do the same before speaking again. “That ghost ally of mine? He had some very interesting information for me. Turns out Grandfather is an interdimensional criminal, good for him.”

Danny lets the three of them absorb this new information while glancing at the items strewn across the table. He can see that they’ve split the piles into three sections, one for tech, one for his civilian necessities, and the sight of the last pile fills him with a bittersweet feeling. His old League gear sits in the most pristine pile of the lot, his too-small garbs folded neatly, and his old weapons, knives and shurikens, lined up to their right. His Kusarigama sits in a place of honour on top of his garbs. Danny tears his eyes away from the gleam of its blade and chain as he looks back to the others, and Duncan leans forward with his elbows on his knees, hands linked together loosely. “The Demon’s Head is an interdimensional criminal? What does that mean exactly?”

“It means I have the full permission and support of the Realms to take him out of commission with extreme prejudice.” Danny feels a giddy and feral grin stretch across his lips. Malcolm's eyebrows dip slightly in confusion, so Danny decides to elaborate. “I’d usually have to put in a formal request first, and have it reviewed and approved by the Observants. Once I become the High King instead of the High Prince, I’d be allowed to do whatever I want with the Realms resources without that formality, but unfortunately I’m not old enough yet.”

Danny leans back in his chair and stretches his arms above his head in a way that would have been near-agonising earlier that day, and lets out a mighty yawn, jaw creaking in effort. He can see all three assassin’s glancing at his chest, confirming that Nedra had told the other two what had happened earlier that morning. Wisely, none of them mention it. “I’m actually feeling pretty tired right now, so I vote to table this conversation until tomorrow when I can formulate intelligent thoughts.”

Malcolm practically launches himself out of his chair, a ‘But!’ exiting his mouth before Nedra places a gentle hand on his shoulder. Duncan also rises from his chair and nods his head to the hallway Danny had walked down to take his call with Jazz earlier that day. “The sheets on the guest bed are clean, My Prince, if you’d like to rest straight away.”

Danny gives him a tired smile and lets out a soft sigh. “I’d think that would be best. It’s… been a long day.”

Danny waves goodnight to the three as he walks off to bed, feeling the safest in their home then he has anywhere else in a while.

Batcave, June 17th, 20X0

Bruce looks up from the Batcomputer at the sound of someone walking in his direction, glancing to his left and seeing Tim stopping next to him, wearing soft sweats and a hoodie. “Bruce?”

Bruce gives Tim a grunt, looking at the folder clutched in Tim’s left hand. Tim gives him a nervous smile.

“I have some things I think you’d like to see.”

Chapter Text

Elmerton, June 17th, 2X24

Danny wakes up to the smell of food wafting from underneath the door. He rolls over with a grumble and blearily looks at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Red numbers blink 9:17am and Danny buries his face in the pillow with a groan. He can hear voices speaking down the hall, but they’re just out of the range of eavesdropping. Danny rolls back over and sits up, stretching his arms into the air and listening to the delightful cracks his back makes.

He swings his legs over the side of the bed, scrubbing the crust out of eyes with a yawn, and stands up. He intends to go get his duffel and grab a change of clothes, but is some-what pleasantly surprised to see that someone has snuck into his room while he was sleeping, leaving his spare clothes folded on the desk. Danny briefly debates with himself on whether he feels okay with that, before deciding he’s too tired to think about it.

It’s while he’s changing his shirt that Danny realises his wound is gone with a startled breath. He runs his fingers along the raised silvery lines left behind on his skin, now joining the collection of other scars on his body. Danny glances up at the mirror in front of him, his gaze drawn to the scars. Old blaster burns, some tiny silver lines from blades, Lichtenberg figures up his left arm, any wound that left a psychological scar still lingers on his body. 

Danny’s gaze catches on the thin line going across his neck, and he quickly twists around, his back to the mirror, and puts his NASA shirt on with a ragged breath. Danny closes his eyes and buries them in his palms, pressing hard enough to see sparks. He stays there for a moment, taking deep breaths, before whipping around and heading to the bedroom door, carefully avoiding the mirror.

When he steps out into the hallway Danny is hit with the smell of bacon and cooking oil, and his mouth waters immediately. After a quick pitstop to brush his teeth, he makes his way to where he thinks the kitchen is, ducking his head through the doorway hopefully. He spots Duncan cooking by the stove, where he’s putting hashbrowns on a plate to drain out the oil. He can see plates of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes next to it, his stomach grumbling in excitement. Malcolm is sitting at the table to the right of the room, and he and Duncan are chatting about Dark Souls? Danny isn’t quite sure. Curiously, Nedra is absent.

Danny steps fully into the doorway, and Malcolm is the first to spot him, practically jumping out of his seat. “Prince, you’re awake! I’ll go get Nedra.” 

Malcolm almost flies out of the room in eagerness, and Duncan glances at Danny from over his shoulder and gives him a respectful nod. “Good morning, Danyal.”

“Morning Duncan.” Danny gives him a tired smile and looks around the room. “Anything I can help with?”

“No, I've got everything handled.” Duncan shakes his head in negative. Danny turns and looks at the empty table with a raised brow, then starts searching through the kitchen cupboards. “What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for the plates.” Danny can’t see Duncan from behind the cupboard door, but he can already picture the man's frown. Duncan sounds a bit confused when he speaks again. “You don’t have to-”

“I’m not letting you set the table after you’ve just cooked everyone breakfast.” Danny emerges from the cupboard with his prize, and looks at Duncan with what he hopes is a no-nonsense expression. “Where do you keep the glasses?”

Duncan’s mouth shuts with a click, and he silently points towards a different cupboard, Danny quickly grabbing the glasses and heading back to the table. While he’s setting the plates and glasses in their spots, Nedra and Malcolm both return. Malcolm looks horrified at Danny doing any kind of labour, while Nedra just silently walks over to a drawer and starts pulling cutlery out.

Danny watches a little amused as Malcolm’s mouth opens and closes, obviously not sure what to say, before he seems to deflate and heads to the fridge, pulling multiple bottles of juice out. Nedra returns to the table and places the cutlery down, then takes a seat. Danny quickly follows her silent queue, pouring himself a glass of orange juice when Malcolm places the bottles on the table and seats himself. The first sip makes Danny scrunch his nose up, the taste reminding him he recently brushed his teeth, and he quickly has another sip to wash it down while Duncan makes his way back to the table, plates balanced on his arms.

Once everyone is seated Danny quickly grabs a piece of bacon, sliding it onto his plate excitedly, and Nedra puts some eggs on his plate from where she’s seated to his left. Danny gives her a disapproving side eye while she ignores him, placing a couple pancakes and hashbrowns on his plate before serving herself. Danny rolls his eyes and shoves a piece of pancake in his mouth, chewing a bit before speaking excitedly. “Oh my Ancients.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full.” Nedra chides from his left, taking a sip of her apple juice. Danny quickly swallows his mouthful before continuing. “Duncan, this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten, ever.”

Danny thinks he can almost see a blush on the man's dark skin when Duncan answers. “It’s nothing, my Prince.”

“Uh uh,” Danny quickly shoves another piece of delicious pancake in his mouth, remembering to swallow before he speaks again. “This is great, you should like, become a chef or something.”

Duncan lets out a shy chuckle. “I’ll take that into consideration.”

The room is mostly quiet after that, other than the sound of utensils hitting plates. Danny glances at Nedra, taking note of the fact she’s somewhat covered in cut off pieces of string. He points at her with his fork. “What’s all that about?”

Nedra looks down at her lap and starts brushing all the loose threads off with a huff. “I was in my craft room.”

“Oh? What were you doing?” Danny inquires while taking a bite of one of his hashbrowns.

“It’s a surprise.” She gives Danny a smirk, and Danny smirks back. “Alright then, keep your secrets.”

Danny lazily eats his food, savouring the first home cooked meal he’s had in a long time. The second his plate is empty and his utensils are released from his hands, Malcolm practically dives across the table to grab his things.

“Um.” Danny looks at Malcolm with wide eyes, and Malcolm gives him an almost-glare while grabbing the other dirty plates and walking towards the kitchen sink. Danny turns to Duncan, still wide-eyed. “What’s that all about?”

Malcolm interrupts before Duncan can answer, grumbling underneath his breath louder than he probably means to. “The Prince doing his own dishes? Hah! My mother would be rolling in her grave if she saw that, I can’t believe the others are letting him…”

Malcolm's voice quiets while he scrubs aggressively at the dishes, his muttering becoming incomprehensible. Duncan covers up a laugh with a fake cough, quickly getting up and leaving the room, although Danny can hear him break out into giggles the second he exits the door.

Nedra turns to Danny with a bemused smile, getting up out of her chair and clasping Danny on the shoulder. “Come, we should discuss your battle plans.”

Danny follows Nedra out of the room with a chuckle of his own.

Batcave, June 17th, 20X0

Tim shuffles on his feet in front of Bruce, preparing himself for what he thinks is going to be a big, and emotional, conversation.

“I know you’re upset that you don’t have any baby photos of most of us as kids.” Tim gives Bruce what he hopes is a reassuring smile. “So I found these for you.”

He hands the manila folder over to Bruce, making sure the USB inside doesn’t slip out. He watches somewhat anxiously as Bruce flips it open and looks at the photos nestled inside. Tim then panics quietly when Bruce takes a stuttered breath, ghosting his fingers over the images. Naturally, he starts to ramble a bit. “They’re nothing new , just some camera footage I found that predates what Talia says is his last sighting, so, not really relevant. But! I figured I could take a few screenshots and fix them up a bit with some of my photography programs, y’know? Anyway, I uploaded all the raw footage of Danyal to the USB and-”

Tim's rant is abruptly cut off when Bruce wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling Tim into his chest. One hand is buried in his hair, cupping the back of his head, and the other clutches the folder tightly. “ Thank you .”

Tim blinks in shock for a moment before hesitantly raising his arms up around Bruce’s back in an awkward hug. He stands there for a moment more, then relaxes into Bruce’s chest with a quiet sigh, eyes slipping closed. “You’re welcome.”

Elmerton, June 17th, 2X24

Danny is back in the living room with the rest of his assassins, all of them seated on couches, Danny across from the group. He can see that his things have been moved, his tech left on the table and his League gear absent. An awkward vibe permeates the air, or maybe that’s just Danny. The trio watch him expectantly. “So…”

They all lean forward in anticipation while Danny mentally fumbles where to start. Nedra seems to pick up with Danny’s problem and rescues him with a question. “What are your plans for the pit, Danyal?”

Danny lets out a quick sigh of relief before answering, excitedly waving his hands around as he speaks. “Well, at this point I’m pretty certain the Lazarus Pits are actually run-off from the Infinite Realms, a sort of pollution in a sense.”

When the three of them nod along in understanding, Danny continues with a smile. “I’m pretty sure I can absorb the ectoplasm, and separate it from the corrupted stuff. What’s left behind should evaporate by itself within days, in theory.”

Duncan drums his fingers gently against his leg, looking at the technology scattered across the table. “And the device you showed to us yesterday? What’s its purpose?”

Danny reaches across the table and grabs his modified tablet, wires poking out all over the sides. He looks down at it and spins it in his hands while he speaks. “This baby should detect any corrupted ectoplasm on the planet, I just need to connect it to a satellite network. But I’m having trouble deciding on which one.”

“Like, Wayne Industries has the best satellite coverage, but everyone with half a brain knows that Brucie helps fund the Justice League, and I’d rather they didn’t come sniffing around right now.”

Danny misses the startled look the three assassins send each other over his head, and keeps talking. “Lexcorp would be the next best thing, and I wouldn’t feel bad about having Tuck hack into their satellites either, but I’d also be worried about missing some pits using their network.”

Nedra brings Danny out of his musing with a hurried question. “Danyal, are you unaware of your fathers identity?”

Danny furrows his brows at her in confusion. “Uh, no. Pretty sure my father is Batman.”

Nedra chews her lip softly before replying. “Batman is Bruce Wayne.”

“Dude, no way, the himbo ? That’s…” Danny picks his jaw up off the floor and starts to grin. “That’s genius . Dude, no one suspects the himbo .”

The trio watch him absorb this information, Malcolm in particular seeming gobsmacked by his reaction. Danny decides to continue on as if nothing happened, just for the amusement. “Anyway, in that case we definitely won’t use the Wayne network. I’ll text Tucker later and have him hack us into the Lexcorp satellites for us. That’s really the only plan I have for now, until we have the pit locations.”

Nedra and Duncan nod along, while Malcolm blinks at him. Nedra gets up out of her chair and speaks. “It’s a good thing we’ve started our own preparations then.”

Danny tilts his head at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Nedra gives him a slight smirk before stepping out into the hallway and disappearing. Danny turns and looks at the other two, and Duncan takes pity on him. “We’ve already started packing our things, some for long-term storage, and some to bring with us.”

“You didn’t have to do that!” Danny exclaims, eyes wide. “You don’t even have to come with me if you don’t want to!”

Malcolm cuts in with a scandalised gasp. “Of course we want to! It would be an honour! Besides, I’ve already notified the others!

Duncan glances at Danny nervously at that comment, and Danny is left blinking at them in confusion again. “What?”

Nedra, of course, uses this brief interlude to let herself back into the room. She dumps the things bundled up in her arms on the table and retakes her seat. Unwrapping the bundle, she pulls Danny’s weapons out, all freshly oiled and sharpened, and raises Danny’s League garbs up for him to see.

They’ve been modified, he can tell immediately, panelling added to the sides of the fabric seamlessly, along with more length. Nedra holds the top piece out to him. “Try it on.”

Danny reaches out and takes it hesitantly, before taking his own shirt off and replacing it with his garb. He ignores the quiet gasps from the two men in the room, and runs his hands over the soft fabric covering his chest. It fits like a glove. Danny looks up at the trio just in time to see Duncan hand Malcolm a twenty dollar note with a sour look. When he looks at them, confused again, Nedra cuts in. “Duncan bet I couldn’t finish the alterations before you got up this morning. He should know better.”

Duncan crosses his arms with a huff, looking away from the other two while Danny quickly changes back into his NASA shirt, handing the other top back to Nedra, which she then folds and places next to his weapons. “Did you tell Danyal about our plans?”

“Ah,” Duncan looks back at her with a bit of uncertainty. “Malcolm had just mentioned the others when you got back.”

“Oh.” Nedra glances at Danny with an appraising look at this.

“Yeah, actually, what are you guys talking about?” Danny is starting to get sick of all this confusion, is this karma?

“The other defectors of course!” Malcolm exclaims with excitement, and a thrilled grin on his face.

“Oh, okay.” Danny nods his head for a moment, digesting the information. “The WHAT?!”

Chapter Text

Elmerton, June 17th, 2X24

Danny can practically sense the way the assassins are watching him, where he’s bent over and screaming into one of the decorative couch pillows now nestled in his lap. He takes a moment when his lungs empty to evaluate if he wants to scream some more, then takes a deep breath and leans back. He looks at three wide-eyed assassins across from him and lets out a sigh. “So, just to recap, while I've been gone you three have basically been hype-manning me to any other assassins that you think were, or are, close to turn-coating on Grandfather?”

Malcolm and Duncan nod meekly while Nedra just lets out a bland, “Yes.”

Danny lets out another sigh and rubs at the bridge of his nose. “And how many did you say  ‘converted’?”

“Only about fifty, my Prince.” Malcolm is still watching him with wide eyes, but he doesn’t look fearful, which settles Danny’s nerves some-what.

Danny lets out a disbelieving bark of laughter, shaking his head. “ Only fifty? That’s still fifty more than I thought I had yesterday! What am I even meant to do with fifty followers?”

“They can help with the Pits.” Danny glances at Nedra when she speaks, her expression unreadable.

“We can handle the Pits with just the three of us, we don’t need to bring anyone else in.” Danny rebuffs, crossing his arms defiantly.

Nedra also crosses her arms and levels Danny with a firm expression. “Maybe, for the first few, and for the smaller Pits. But Danyal, once the Demon’s Head notices he’ll set round the clock guards, and I’d wager that ability of yours requires concentration, correct?”

Danny’s shoulders sag slightly, and he looks at Nedra with a pout on his face. “Yeah.”

Nedra lets out a sigh, and leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees. She gives Danny an imploring expression. “The three of us aren’t enough to protect you, not when the Demon’s Head has so many at his disposal. We’ll need to bring in reinforcements.”

“Fine.” Danny says in a grumble. “But we’re only bringing in a few to begin with, pick like, three each or something.”

Nedra nods with a soft smile, the two men next to her relaxing at the diffusing of the almost-argument. “That’s an acceptable compromise, my Prince.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Danny mumbles, not unkindly. He digs his hand into his pocket and fishes out his phone, swiftly typing in his pin and opening the group chat. “I’m going to text Tucker about hacking those satellites.”

His plans are dashed however, when his phone suddenly comes alive in his hand, buzzing with VM is Calling lighting up on the screen. Danny can feel his nose scrunch up in disgust and he quickly presses Decline and goes back to typing his message. He’s interrupted once again by another call, which he hangs up on again with a frustrated huff. He can see the trio in his periphery leaning forward slightly to try and see his screen. Danny waits a moment and relaxes when his phone remains dormant. He continues typing his message when the phone starts buzzing again.

“ Oh for -” Danny gives up, and presses Accept aggressively. “What do you want?!”

“ Now Daniel, that is no way to answer a phone call .” The three assassins in front of him tense at the subtle mispronunciation of his name, Malcolm in particular gets red in the face. He waves his hand at them placatingly.

“I’m not in the mood to play your games, Vlad.” Danny leans back in his seat, bored.

“ Hm .” Silence permeates the phone call, and Danny waits for Vlad to break first. He’s not disappointed. “ Your parents say you’ve run away .”

Danny tenses and leans forward, his assassins watching him closely. “You’ve spoken to them?”

“ Your mother. She told me the three of you had an argument about your grades and you stormed off .” Danny is comforted slightly by the fact Vlad sounds sceptical.

“More like I was rescued…” Danny mumbles. He doesn’t mean for Vlad to hear, but unluckily he does anyway.

“ Rescued? ”

Danny shuffles slightly where he’s sitting on the couch, and Duncan quickly switches to sit next to Danny, laying a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. Danny lets out a weary sigh and continues. “They… found out about me, Vlad. It didn’t go well. To be honest, they seemed… Obsessed.”

Danny can hear Vlad’s sharp inhale, even over the phone. “ Obsessed? You’re sure? ”

Danny’s mind flashes back to the basement, his mothers crazed eyes boring into his own. He lets out a shaky exhale that he’s sure Vlad hears, and leans further into the comforting hand on his shoulder. “Not one-hundred percent, but…”

“ ...Are your friends aware of what happened? ”

“Yeah, and Jazz is on her way over to close the portal, although she’s probably a few days out.”

“ I’ll take care of things with your parents, do you have somewhere to stay? ”

Danny snorts. “Even if I didn’t, we both know I wouldn’t stay with you.”

Vlad hums consideringly for a moment speaking again. “ Stay safe, little badger .”

Danny huffs and pulls his phone away from his ear at the sound of the dial tone, Vlad having hung up on him. “What an asshole.”

He turns his screen on and finally returns to sending his message to Tucker, valiantly ignoring the stares he gets.

Schrodinger's Boy: Hey @One True Tech King think you can hack into some Lexcorp satellites and connect them remotely to my frankensteins tablet? 

One True Tech King: gg ez

I'm Not Emo: Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster.

Schrodinger's Boy: Potato Potato

I’m Not Emo: You just spelt those both the same.

Schrodinger's Boy: But did you read them both the same?

Danny relaxes finally with a chuckle, absentmindedly leaning into Duncan’s side under the watchful gaze of his knights.

Wayne Manor, September 17th, 20X0

Bruce makes his way out the back door and onto the manor grounds, walking softly to where Damian and Titus lay in the grass. He sits next to the two of them, ignoring the way his knees creak at the movement, and follows Damian’s gaze to the night sky. Few stars are visible through the smog despite being so far from the city centre, but Bruce is content sitting next to his son and looking regardless. They spend a few minutes like this before Damian speaks.

“It’s been months.” Damian doesn’t look at Bruce, his hand petting Titus softly where his head rests on his lap.

“We’ll find him.” Bruce looks at Damian resolutely, and Damian scoffs, finally looking back at him.

“How can you be so sure? We have got no leads, no idea where he went, and no idea who he is with!”

“Because I’ll never stop looking for him. Not until he’s home.” Bruce hesitantly reaches his hand out, giving Damian’s shoulder a squeeze before returning his hand to his lap. Damian’s gaze returns to the sky, eyes tracing the few constellations visible from Gotham. “He loves the stars, would stay up late to watch the sky most nights.”

Bruce watches Damian, his throat feeling tight. “What else does he like?”

Damian glances at Bruce before looking away again, and Bruce tries to fight the disappointment that surges when Damian remains silent. It’s when he contemplates leaving him be that Damian starts to speak again. “His favourite colour is red, and he…”

Elmerton, June 17th, 2X24

Danny watches his tablet as the progress bar finally reaches one-hundred percent, the screen changing to a technological looking world map with a pop up stating Start Search? Nedra and Duncan both lean over each of his shoulders, with Malcolm leaning over the back of the couch behind him. Everyone seems to hold their breath as he presses Yes , waiting impatiently. Danny lets out a delighted laugh when the first green speck appears, dozens following quickly, dotting across the map like freckles.

A few appear in the US, and Danny zooms in on it excitedly. Four , he thinks to himself elatedly, oh Grandfather is going to be pissed . It’s Nedra who notices it first, Danny having skimmed right over it. She reaches over and zooms into a particular spot, speaking quietly. “Danyal.”

Danny looks at the green dot sitting on the screen, the words above it rendering him silent

Gotham City, New Jersey

Chapter Text

The Nest, November 17th, 20X0

Tim takes another swig of his energy drink as he answers work emails, a steaming cup of the Alfred-forbidden cup noodles sitting next to him. It’s while he’s thinking up a polite and acceptable way to call one of his board members brain-dead that his phone starts to ring. The call doesn’t come from his civilian phone, or his work phone, or his work phone, but from his secret phone. He chases the sound through his house, throwing around couch cushions and going through cabinets when he finally finds it wedged behind the tv stand. 

“Hello?” He speaks into the receiver after answering the call, slightly out of breath.

“ Took you long enough, you get lost on the way, Pretty Boy? ” A familiar feminine says across the phone.

Tim rolls his eyes and plonks back into his desk chair, placing his phone down and putting it on speaker, then taking a bite of his noodles before they go cold. “I thought I told you to stop calling me that, Prudence.”

“ Oh, did you just full name me? ” Pru says scathingly across the line. “ I guess you don’t want the info I’ve dug up on this Danyal kid. ”

Tim takes another bite of his noodles, answering around a mouthful. “What, and waste all that time you spent looking into it? We both know you won’t.” 

“ Sometimes I really despise you, Drake. ” She grumbles back at him. “ I don’t know why, but Ra’s doesn’t want this kid found. ”

Tim narrows his eyes, placing his now empty noodle cup on the desk. “You’ve got nothing?”

“ I didn’t say that. ” Pru says with a huff. “ Any mention of the kid is practically forbidden, it’s probably why all the Bats other contacts have been silent. ”

“Yeah, Jason’s been pretty pissed about that.” Tim leans back in his chair, crossing his ankle over his knee, and resists the urge to steeple his fingers. “So what do you have for me?”

“ Kid’s practically a ghost, from the little information I was able to get it seems like Ra’s just picked a few members at random and sent them off with the kid. Obviously that’s probably not the truth, but that was all I was able to find out. ”

Tim rubs at his brow with a grieved sigh. “So not really anything new?”

“ Nothing new. ” 

“Fuck.”

Elmerton, June 17th, 2X24

Danny’s breath comes too quickly, and his chest nearly hurts from the pressure. “I- I can’t, I’m not ready yet .”

He can barely hear Nedra speak over the pounding in his ears, one of her hands clutching his and her voice hurried but gentle. “Breathe, Danyal.”

Danny sucks in a painful breath, one after the other, and closes his eyes, focusing on the feeling of Nedra holding his hand and Duncan leaning into his side. He can feel another hand, Malcolm’s, pressing against his shoulder reassuringly. After a few more deep breaths the pain fades and Danny opens his eyes, giving Nedra’s hand a squeeze. “Sorry.”

Nedra’s hand leaves Danny’s, and she moves it to brush his hair out of his face. “There is no reason to apologise. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I-” Danny pauses to take a deep breath again. “I’m not ready to see Damian again.”

“Why not?” Nedra’s hand keeps brushing calmingly through his hair, her warm brown eyes watching him gently.

“It’s been so long, I’m so different now, and he probably is too, I just-, what if he hates what I’ve become?” Danny lets out a shuddering breath, clutching at Nedra’s hand.

“Oh Danyal.” Nedra’s hand leaves Danny’s hair and slides down to his cheek, thumb rubbing gently under his eye and wiping away the tears he hadn’t noticed. “How could he ever hate you? Blood of his Blood, you whom he shared the womb? Even in the League, it was obvious you both loved each other no matter how much the two of you tried to hide it. Why would that change now?”

“I’m just…” Danny takes another deep breath. “I’m not ready .”

“Okay.” Duncan pipes up, bumping into Danny reassuringly. “Then we go to the other Pits first, circle back to Gotham when you’re ready.”

“I agree.” Malcolm says from behind him, patting his shoulder. “We still have time before we leave to figure out the route we want to take. There’s other things we have to do beforehand too, although we’ve already decided to take my van.”

Danny, seeing the easy out Malcolm has given him, takes it. He leans his back, Nedra’s hand falling away from his face, and looks at Malcolm standing behind him. “Why are we taking your van?”

Malcolm looks at him with a smug grin. “It’s the only car of the three of ours that doesn’t  look absolutely hideous. Wanna go see?”

Danny gives him a half-hearted grin back, standing up from his seat on the couch. “Oh definitely, Nedra says there’s a car that looks worse than hers?”

He hears a mournful groan from behind him and turns to look, while Malcolm starts laughing. Duncan has his face buried in his hands in embarrassment, refusing to look anyone in the eyes. “My poor car!”

“What happened to it?” Danny asks, amused at Duncan’s sudden embarrassment. Nedra watches on with a smirk, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Malcolm, having circled around to the front of the couch, grabs onto Danny’s hand excitedly, tugging him in the direction of the garage. “We can’t spoil it! You’ll see what we mean.”

Danny huffs but lets Malcolm tug him away indulgently. They walk through the house and down to the end of the hallway, stopping at the last door. Malcolm just about flings it open and walks in, Danny following quietly behind him. The smell of motor oil gently wafts into Danny’s nose, along with another smell he can only think of as ‘car’. Malcolm flicks on the light, and the first thing Danny sees is a common looking gray van, with nothing exciting of note. It’s while he’s circling around it that he sees the car that everyone has been talking about. 

It’s a Jeep, but what was once a traditional car has been transformed into the most hideous vehicle Danny thinks he has seen in his life. The whole thing has been sprayed with an eye-scorching teal, and as if that hasn’t made the car bad enough, it has then been covered in anime girls dressed in camo-bikinis. “Oh my Ancients.”

Malcolm leans on the car, wiping a fake tear from his eye. “Some of my best work.”

Danny stares at the car, mouth gaping for a moment before replying. “What- Dude what anime is this even from?”

Malcolm shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. “I’m not sure, I just looked up ‘top ten cringiest fan service anime’ and picked the one I thought looked the worst.”

“You’re an evil genius.” Danny says, shaking his head in astonishment. “Truly.”

Malcolm smiles at Danny. “Let this be a lesson to you then, always think things through before you make a deal.”

Danny’s nose crinkles, the ghost of underwear past haunting him. “Yea I’ve already learnt that one the hard way.”

Malcolm’s eyes furrow slightly. “You wanna elaborate on that?”

“Not particularly.”

Chapter Text

Smallville, December 17th, 2020

“Why are you out here moping?”

Damian looks back at Jon, the young teen showing some truly horrendous bedhead, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a yawn. He looks back to the sunrise, the golden rays just starting to hit the acreage. “I am not moping .”

“You’ve been moping since you got here.” Jon says while plonking himself down on the roof next to Damian. Damian doesn’t answer, other than a non-committal grunt. He stares out at the horizon, ignoring the boy next to him. Or, at least, that was the plan before he gets a super-strength powered poke to his side. He jerks with a hiss, hand lashing out and attempting to swipe Jon’s away. Jon is unperturbed, continuing to poke Damian at superspeed. 

“Stop that!” Damian snarls out, jumping to his feet and employing a tactical retreat. Jon gives him a smug little grin as he also gets up.

"Then tell me what your problem is!” Jon replies, approaching Damian threateningly, his Kryptonian hands at the ready. Damian contemplates his position, his feet steady on the roof tiles, before deciding on a tactic taught to him by his siblings. Compromise.

“I will tell you why I have been… distracted , but! It stays between you and me!.” Damian points at Jon accusingly, eyes narrowed. Jon hums, mulling over the terms, before nodding in agreement. 

“It’s a deal!” Jon holds his hand out, and Damian shakes it cautiously. When he doesn’t get dragged into Jon and poked to death, he walks back over and returns to his seat. Jon sits back down next to him, looking at Damian expectantly. When Damian doesn’t jump into an explanation immediately, Jon fake-coughs into his hand. Damian rolls his eyes at Jon's antics and answers him.

“I thought my brother would be home for Christmas.” Damian rests his chin on his knees, avoiding Jon’s sympathetic gaze. “Everyone went shopping for gifts for him, even though none of them have even met him.”

“Well, that just means when he finally turns up, he’ll have a mountain of presents!” Jon says with a smile, eyes twinkling. Damian lets out a small sigh.

“You’re so optimistic…” 

“Well, yeah, I don’t see what the big problem is. He’s going to turn up eventually, you guys are the Bats , the world’s greatest detectives!” Jon, still smiling, leans over and gives Damian a gentle, by Krytonian standards, nudge to the shoulder. “Even if he doesn’t turn up for ages, you said he was your equal. So, if he’s anywhere near as strong as you are, he’ll be fine!”

Damian feels a genuine smile creep across his lips. “Yes, I suppose that is true.”

“See, you have nothing to worry about!” Jon leans over a ruffles Damian’s hair, ruining the gel, and Damian lunges at him. The two of them wrestle on the roof for a while, when a stern voice calls to them from the window.

“Boys.”

Both Damian and Jon freeze, looking at where Clark is staring at them through the glass. “Not everyone wants to be up at sunrise during the holidays.”

Jon ducks his head, mumbling an apology, but Damian doesn’t let the expression intimidate him. Both boys climb through the window and into the warmth of the house.

Elmerton, June 17th, 2024

Three assassins and a dead kid sit around a map , Danny thinks to himself, amused, sounds like the set up for a joke . Duncan traces a line across the map, leaning over the remnants of their lunch and the dining table slightly. “The most efficient route is to go to Yellowstone, then down to New Orleans, then the Everglades, and finally stopping in Gotham.”

Nedra and Malcolm both nod, expressions serious as they look at the map and the tablet with the locations next to it. Danny looks at the little green dots, and has a realisation. “Or, we go to New Orleans first, then Yellowstone, then Florida and Gotham.”

The three look at Danny perplexed, then back down at the map again. Malcolm is the one to say what they’re all thinking. “Uh, what makes you suggest that route, my Prince?”

Danny taps the tablet, specifically the dot hovering over Louisiana. “It looks like New Orleans has the smallest pit, other than Gotham, and it’s probably undiscovered.”

Danny looks up at the three watching him, slightly bashful. “And I really need to practise Pit cleansing before we get to the big stuff.”

Nedra furrows her brow, chin resting on her clasped hands. “I thought you said you already knew how to do that?”

Danny glances down at the table, picking at the grain of the wood with his nail nervously. “I said in theory , I’ve never actually done it before.”

Nedra hums in understanding. “Then I think it's a good idea. Better to get a feel for it first before we go into any large or League controlled Pits.”

Danny lets out a sigh of relief, hand falling idle. He looks up slightly to watch Duncan’s hand trance the new route on the map, phone in his other hand. “According to Google Maps the trip from here to New Orleans is twelve hours, so a two day trip to get there. Very doable.”

Duncan looks at Danny with a reassuring smile while Malcolm rises out of his chair and heads to the hallway. “I’ll get our League communicators and contact our allies, let them know where to meet us.”

Danny watches Malcolm leave before turning back to the other two watching him. “You guys already packed, right?”

Nedra nods to him. “Yes, so we’ll be able to leave tomorrow morning, if you want.”

Danny takes a deep breath, letting out a soft exhale while he runs a hand through his hair. “Everything is going so fast, this time last week me and my friends were playing Doomed, and now I’m organising a shadow war with my Grandfather.”

Duncan frowns slightly, eyes concerned. “We don’t have to go right away if you don’t want to, there’s no time limit.”

Danny shakes his head at the two of them, giving them a small grin. “No, I’m kinda excited, in a nervous way? I’ve always had a problem with knowing the League was still operating. The sooner they’re done with, the sooner I can relax again.”

Nedra looks at Danny with a proud glint in her eye, and a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Then we’ll leave tomorrow morning, you have everything you need?”

“Yep,” Danny replies, popping the p. “I updated that duffel all the time, I’ve got a week’s worth of clothes and all the important ghost tech.”

Nedra nods while Malcolm walks back into the room, swooping by the table to snatch the plates before Danny can get to them. He gives Danny a smug grin at the glower he receives and turns to do the dishes. Duncan raps his knuckles on the table, grabbing Danny’s attention, and stands. “How about some Mortal Kombat while we wait for tomorrow?”

Danny’s glower turns to a fierce grin, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Wanna make a bet?”

The responding snickering from Nedra and Malcolm, along with the groan of despair from Duncan, help ease Danny’s anxiety over tomorrow's trip. His shoulders relax, he hadn’t even noticed they were tense, and his grin fades into a smile.

Amity Park, June 17th, 2024

Vlad creeps through the darkness, carefully staying out of the moonlight streaming through the windows. He quietly disables any ghost traps he comes across, and ascends the staircase with careful footing. Jack is snoring like a chainsaw, and Vlad follows the deafening sound to the master bedroom. He invisibly and intangibly walks through the door, watching for any sign that either of them are going to wake up.  

Jack and Madeline sleep peacefully in their bed. Jack has one hand and one foot hanging off the side, his other hand resting across his chest, and the other foot the only part of him covered by the blanket Madeline has seemed to have stolen in the night. Madeline herself only has one limb exposed, her arm lying on top of the blanket and hugging it to her chest while she sleeps on her side. She sleeps silently, in stark contrast to her husband.

Vlad approaches Jack first, pulling an empty syringe from his pocket as he gets closer. He carefully grabs Jack’s arm and uses some difficult application of his intangibility to phase the needle through the hazmat and into Jack’s vein without puncturing any holes. He slowly fills the syringe before removing it from Jack’s arm and circling around the bed to Madeline.

He’s a lot more cautious with her, knowing that if either of them would wake up to this it would be her. He reaches down and gently grabs her exposed arm, freezing when her brows furrow in her sleep. He waits for a moment, and lets out a quiet exhale of relief when her expression smooths out. Vlad uses the same trick on her to get the new syringe into her arm, and slowly fills it up, placing her arm back on the bed when he’s done.

On his way out of the house he turns the traps back on, making sure to stay clear of them once they’re live. Once he slips out the front door he flies straight up into the sky, high enough no one would spot him, and pulls out the vials of blood. 

He lifts them to his face, gazing into the ruby liquid, and his expression fades into a frown when his superior vision spots the flecks of green swirling around.