Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You murdered my brother.”

There wasn’t much any of them could say to that really. It was true and they all knew it.

“We are more sorry than we can ever express,” Bruce spoke up. It was difficult to find the words, but he knew it was his duty to make this apology. “We truly didn’t know—”

“Didn’t know?” Jazz turned to glare at him, her eyes colder than ice. “Or didn’t care? I can’t imagine he didn’t beg for his life as he was slowly tortured to death. Tortured by you .”

Bruce heard a sharp intake of breath behind him but he didn’t turn to see which of his children made the noise. He knew they were remembering all the little moments, all of Danny’s pleas that they ignored.

“You are right,” Bruce admitted. “We didn’t believe him when he said the collar was killing him. We knew the truth but didn’t accept it.”

“No, you wouldn’t, would you,” Jazz spat. “Bigots like you always believe what is easiest. Whatever challenges your worldview less.”

“You're right. I am so sorry,” Duke was the first of the children to speak up. “I should have known better. I should have spoken up. I am a meta myself—”

“Danny wasn’t a meta,” Jazz interrupted. “That is how his fucking species was targeted for genocide. That is why he fucking died . Why the hell are you still calling him that?”

Technically, meta was now a legal term that included anyone outside the normal baseline human, including other species, but Bruce wouldn’t dare say as much to Jazz now. She was right after all, this mix up was the reason Danny died. If they had just believed him when he said he wasn’t a meta…

“You're right. I shouldn’t call him that. It was obvious how much it bothered him,” Duke said.

It was clear now why being called a meta bothered Danny so much. They had just thought it was some internalized self-hatred or a part of his delusion… Except he wasn’t delusional. Never was.

“I should have done better by him. I should have stuck up for him,” Duke continued.

“You damn well should have,” Jazz agreed. She looked around the room, her eyes examining all of their faces for clues. “Why didn’t you? Why didn’t any of you listen to a single damn thing Danny said?”

And that was the real question. Why hadn’t they taken Danny’s words seriously? Why hadn’t they even considered for at least a moment that he was telling the truth?

“We thought Danny’s story was impossible,” Tim confessed. Bruce could tell how ashamed he was. Barbara and Bruce had done plenty of research since this all began, but when it came down to it, Tim did most of it. Most of their decisions were based on his findings. “Nothing we found indicated a half ghost was possible. We assumed he was suffering from some kind of mental illness.”

“Mental illness.” Jazz said incredulously. “You mean to say you gas lit him. You told him he was crazy, that his pain and suffering weren’t real, right up to the part where he died .”

Tim visibly flinched at this. Bruce knew he was sensitive to this subject. He had a troubled history of being called crazy. Tim knew intimately what it was like to be surrounded by people who didn’t believe you, and yet he had done the same to someone else. Bruce knew this was eating Tim up inside.

“We tried to be supportive, I swear. We didn’t say anything like that to his face,” Tim explained. They all knew this was a hollow comfort at best. “We got him a therapist—”

“A therapist!” Jazz looked pissed for a woman studying psychology herself. “You sent a boy with therapy trauma to a therapist while he was being slowly tortured to death? So they can, what, tell him he is being over dramatic? So they can tell him if he doesn’t play house with you while being tortured he would be sent to Arkham?”

Danny had therapy trauma? Bruce hadn’t known that, sure Danny seemed unwilling to go but, well, they had all chalked that up to nerves or teenage angst. How many other things about Danny had they ignored?

Bruce was about to apologize again when Dick spoke up. “I am sorry.”

Bruce turned around. His son looked close to tears. Dick was so strong in so many ways and it was rare that he allowed himself to show weakness like this. It was clear how much the guilt was clawing at him.

“I am so so so sorry,” Dick said with a staggering breath. “We failed him in every way.”

“You did.”

“In the time he was here I really did come to care about him. I started to see him as a brother,” Dick said.

This confession made Bruce’s stomach tie in knots again. Dick really did love so deeply and so quickly.

“Shut up!” Jazz interrupted. “Don’t you dare call him that. Don’t you ever call him that. You don’t deserve to call him that.”

There was a moment of quiet lingering after her outburst. Quietly, Dick said, “I understand. I lost that right.”

“If this is how you treat your brothers I would hate to see how you are with your enemies.”

Damian seemed to want to jump in and defend Dick but he held himself back. He had grown a lot and the guilt was eating at him too. Besides Bruce, he had been the one most insistent that the collar stay on at all times.

“You never actually answered my question,” Jazz said, changing the subject. “Why did you believe the research from a hate group being investigated by the justice league for genocide over the word of the town hero?”

That was more than a fair question, but the answer was uncomfortably stuck in Bruce’s throat. The reason was simple, despite how much he denied it, despite how many metas he called friends, family and teammates, despite how much effort he put into equal rights in both sides of his life…. Bruce had, when it came down to it, more internalized bigotry than he realized.

“The science seemed sound,” Bruce said. This excuse felt weak even to his ears. “And Danny was being investigated for a crime.”

“The crime of freeing captured tortured prisoners?”

Bruce could admit how bad it sounded. His defense was paper thin.

“Danny was slowly executed by the government, the justice league, and you ,” Jazz spat out. “For a crime he hadn’t even gotten to go to trial for.”

“The justice league and I take full responsibility for this,” Bruce said. “I know it means little but I swear to you we will do anything in our power to help.”

“Help?” Jazz let out a broken laugh. “There is nothing you can do to help. You can’t bring my brother back.”

“I only meant that we would do everything in our power to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

“Bullshit,” Jazz said in disgust. “The next time someone with a weird power shows up I am sure the justice league and those disgusting bats with their god damn know it all attitudes will jump to whatever conclusion is most convenient for them. People like that don’t care.”

“I don’t blame you for hating the league. I would too if I was you, but I know many of them, and I know they care.” Bruce tried to explain. “And I know that they will do anything to make you believe them.”

“If they cared, they would have helped Amity Park out a long time ago,” Jazz said, her anger building. “If they cared, they would have thought for a single fraction of a second before ignoring everything said by my brother, the hero of Amity, who has been fighting ghosts for years, who is a ghost, who is the only real living expert on the subject of ghosts.”

“The justice league failed you deeply twice,” Bruce admitted. “I am sure members will see you soon to apologize in person.”

“Daniel was dismissed because he was a teenager and powerful,” It was the first thing Damian had said to Jazz tonight.

“Danny. He hated being called Daniel. Did you seriously call him Daniel while you tortured him to death?” Jazz asked. Damian shifted his body weight uncomfortably, a clear sign of guilt. “You people are unbelievable. I keep thinking you can’t get worse.”

Damian looked guilty, he was trying to hide it, but it was clear to Bruce how distraught he felt. Damian had been raised differently in many ways and wasn’t used to nicknames. It seemed like Damian was only just now realizing that there could be consequences for not calling people by their preferred name.  

“I apologize,” Damian said. Jazz likely had no idea how big a step this was for Damian. “It didn’t occur to me that my words could be harmful in such a way.”

Jazz’s eyes got ever so slightly softer. Bruce wouldn’t call the look kind, not by a long shot, but Damian got a gentler gaze than anyone else had so far. Bruce wondered if Damian reminded her of Danny in some way.

Damian straightened himself in an attempt to block out his anxiety.

“The reason the justice league ignored Danny’s advice was because he was a teenager. It is easy for adults to ignore children. It makes them feel better about themselves if they delude themselves into thinking they are smarter just because they are older,” Damian's voice shook. He was angry, but he often used anger to cover up what he was really feeling. “They decided they knew best, even if all evidence was against that.”

Bruce hated that this was true. Never once did they think that the teenager might know more on the subject of ghosts than them, the professionals. What a joke. They didn’t know anything and now Danny was dead.

“This is especially true when the teenager is powerful,” Damian continued. “Phantom scared the league because he could have fraught their strongest. They put that collar on him and put him in a cage to make themselves feel safe.”

This was uncomfortably true. Bruce had called himself merciful when he took Danny in. What a great hero he was offering his home to a dangerous meta who might be a terrorist. How good of him to try and rehabilitate this mentally ill child.

But of course he couldn’t allow Danny to have any freedoms. And he was too dangerous to be let out of the collar.

To think, Bruce used to claim he wasn’t a bigot.

“The justice league, scared of a dying child,” Jazz sounded skeptical. Bruce couldn’t blame her.

“It is true,” Damian insisted. “I know because I was scared too.”

There have only been a few times that Damian has ever shown fear, much less admit it openly. Bruce put a hand on his son’s shoulder to comfort him, but Damian shrugged it off. He didn’t want comfort right now.

“There were times we considered taking it off, but I was always the firmest in my belief that it should remain on. His powers frightened me,” Damian took a deep breath. “My fear killed him. I will carry this guilt with me till the end of my days.”

Throughout their conversation Jazz had looked angry, a righteous fury in her movements. It was only now that she showed a shimmer of what lies beyond that anger, a deep well of grief.

“I wasn’t even allowed visitation or the right to contact him because of the pending trial. You didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye ,” Jazz’s voice broke on the last word. A sob threatening to spill out. “You just murdered him.”

“I am sorry,” Dick looked nearly ready to vomit. None of the other boys looked much better.

Jazz took a moment to center herself again and rolled her eyes. “Save it. I don’t care.”

“I know there is nothing I can do to fix this,” Bruce said, “But, if there is anything you need or want—”

“Want? Are you going to buy me a car and hope it fills the hole in my heart?” Jazz snickered. “Is that how you rich fucks do it?”

“I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Well, I do mean to imply,” Jazz interrupted. “As a man who had two children die under his care I wonder how you sleep at night.”

The reminder of Jason’s death hurt, but it was a blow he deserved. In truth, Bruce hadn’t been sleeping. Not lately. Not after Danny died. He doubts this will bring Jazz any comfort though.

“I hope you lose custody,” Jazz jerked her head in Damian’s direction. He was the only child still under eighteen. “One is a mistake, but two is a pattern and you clearly can’t be trusted to raise children. Believe me I plan to sue to remove your foster license. I pray you never have a child again.”

Depending on the fall out of this, both those things were possible. Bruce had a lot of power and influence, so he might not face any real consequences from this, but… Well… He can admit that he deserves consequences.

“You want to know what I want? What would make me feel better?” Jazz asked.

This felt like a trick question, but he didn’t care. If he could do something for her, he would. “Yes.”

“I want you to pay for my brother’s funeral.”

“Of course.”

“I want you to not come to my brother’s funeral,” Jazz turned from looking at Bruce to all of his children. “ None of you.”

It hurt a bit, he knew that his children had come to care for Danny, but he could hardly claim it was unfair.

“We understand,” Dick spoke for all of them.

“I want you, Bruce Wayne, to admit publicly to the whole world that you are at fault for what happened. I want you to tell everyone that a child died under your roof, tortured for months while he begged you for help and you did absolutely nothing. I want you to tell everyone what a disgusting disgrace to humanity you and your family are.”

“I take full responsibility for Danny’s death, and I will do so publicly if you want,” Bruce steeled himself. This was an uncomfortable request, but if that is what Jazz wanted, then he owed her. The press would be awful but Bruce didn’t care. “But no one else needs to be involved in—”

“No actually, a lot of other people need to be involved,” Jazz shot back. “Your children and butler lived in this home with Danny for months and did nothing . They are just as much at fault as you.”

Bruce might have tried to argue the point, take more of the blame on himself, but Alfred stopped him.

“Miss Jazz is quite right,” Alfred said. In some ways he looked frailer now than when they had lost Jason and Damian. Perhaps because this time the child’s death was directly related to his actions. He didn’t meet Jazz’s eyes and Bruce couldn’t blame him. It was a difficult thing to do. “We are all at fault, and we all should take the blame; it is the least we can do.”

“Not just you, the justice assholes too,” Jazz spat. “You want to know what I want, I want the justice league to own up to their bullshit.”

“I am sure the justice league will visit you soon,” Bruce said. He knew for a fact that Batman owed her an apology.

“Cut it out,” Jazz snapped. “The justice league sent Danny here, to you. It is a common theory that you support them financially, and the way Damian talks about them supports this. So I have a message I want you to take to them.”

“Alright,” Bruce nodded.

“I want them to own up to their cover up, and if they don’t, I will,” Jazz threatened. “Oh sure they fought the anti-ecto acts, but too little too late. They let awful things happen because they ignored messages for years. They outed Danny’s secret identity, something that put a target on his back. And they murdered a hero because they were unwilling to listen.”

It was true, they had done all of that, yet it stung a lot to hear it laid out like that. They really had hurt Danny in so many ways.

“I want the justice league to tell the public the fucking truth. I want the world to know that they murdered a teen hero. I want them to confess to the kind of bigotry they claim to fight against,” Jazz’s voice was full of vitriol. “I want the world to know what pieces of shit they are.”

“I will pass on that message,” Bruce said.

They deserved her scorn, the scorn of the world, but he wasn’t sure she would actually get her request. The public needed to have faith in the justice league, and if this got out… It would shake things up. Especially so soon after the announcement of the GIW and the anti-ecto acts to the public.

“Oh,” Jazz said, suddenly remembering something. “Whatever awful therapist you had abusing my brother? I am coming for their license.”

Bruce wasn’t sure she would be able to accomplish that, league approved therapists had to have quite the resume, but he could understand her desire to try. 

“Is there anything else you want?” Bruce asked.

Jazz looked Bruce dead in the eyes.

“I want my brother back, but if I can’t have that I will have my revenge,” Jazz looked almost serine when she said this. A calmness took over her, like she was finally at peace, no, like she finally had a plan. A goal in mind. “This isn’t the last you will see of me Mr. Wayne, but believe me by the time I am through with you, you will wish you murdered me too.”