Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I woke up feeling strange. Well, stranger than I normally felt. I remembered going to sleep last night in bed, but right now I was definitely sitting — tied to a chair, no less.

How did I get here? Why could I feel my mask still on my face? What was happening?

“Sorry,” said someone from behind me. “I don’t normally go around kidnapping vigilantes, especially in civilian clothing, but I didn’t know how else to get your attention. I need help.”

I tried to look over my shoulder but couldn’t quite see the speaker.

“I’m sure there are better ways to get help than kidnapping,” I said, keeping my tone calm, almost gentle. “So, let's start with why you thought this was the best way to get help. Maybe you could untie me so we can talk like civilized people — rather than me assuming you’re some attention-seeking villain.”

“How do I know you won’t attack me as soon as you’re free?” the mystery man asked. The voice was deep, but it kept catching in his throat — young, maybe nervous.

“What if we make a deal of sorts?” I said. “You untie me, and I’ll listen to what you have to say. Or—” I tested the ropes around my wrists, “—I break out of these binds and take you directly to the police station without losing any sleep over it.”

No sooner had I said it than the ropes loosened and fell away from my wrists and ankles. I stood, turning to assess my captor.
He was definitely male — young, no older than twenty. He looked terrified. Whatever was going on, it was bad enough that he thought kidnapping a vigilante was his only option.

“I need your help dismantling a part of the U.S. government that’s violating the Meta Protection Rights,” he said in a rush. “They’re kidnapping and experimenting on my kind. They claim we’re non-sentient and non-sapient.”

Well, that’s one way to grab attention.

“What?” was all I managed to say. It wasn’t the most eloquent response, but there was a lot to unpack there.

“I’m what’s known as an ectoplasmic entity. Under the U.S. Anti-Ecto Act, I’m illegal. I’m what you’d call a ghost,” he continued quickly. “I know it sounds insane, but it’s real. The law was pushed through Congress hidden in a bill about crop irrigation. If you still don’t believe me, I can show you the text. My dimension is on the verge of going to war with yours — the only reason they haven’t is because of me. I tried to handle it alone, but the government recently tried to launch a missile at my dimension. I can’t do this by myself anymore. Please — I need help.”
I sat back down, processing everything. This wasn’t just a cry for help; it was a potential international — no, interdimensional — crisis.

“That’s… a lot of information all at once,” I said slowly. “Even if I thought this was a prank set up by my brothers, the genuine fear in your voice tells me it’s not. But why come to me? Why not Batman or Nightwing?”

“Because Batman would write me off as insane,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t trust cops — for obvious reasons — and you’re known as the greatest detective. Some even say you’re better than Batman.”
That made me pause. He knew too much.

“How do you know Nightwing’s a cop?” I asked carefully.

“The same way I know who you are under the mask,” he replied, eyes flickering with eerie confidence. “Because I’m a ghost — I can read people’s energy. Kind of like what Signal does, but I can’t turn it off. I know who all the Bats and Birds are under the masks, except Black Bat. I’ve never met her in her civilian form.”

That… was concerning. And impressive.

“Okay,” I said finally. “So you know who we are. Why not just approach me in civilian clothes?” I caught myself. “Never mind — stupid question.
Let me get this straight: you want my help dismantling a part of the government because they’re hunting you. What proof do you have that they’ve hurt you personally?”

He hesitated, then spoke quietly. “I have scars from their weapons… and a vivisection scar from when they caught me about three months ago.”

I froze. They’d operated on him. While he was alive.

I pulled out my phone, running a quick search for the Anti-Ecto Acts. Sure enough, they were real — and absolutely in violation of the Meta Protection Act. This needed to go to the League immediately.

“Okay,” I said finally. “That’s proof enough. I found the Acts, and you’re right — this is a major breach of protection laws. If you’re okay with it, I’ll send this to Lois Lane. She’ll dig into it and get it out safely.”

“Only if she does it on a secure system,” he said quickly. “My town’s under an information blackout. Anyone who searches for ecto-related terms gets flagged. Your systems are the most encrypted available — maybe get her access through one of yours.”
He looked up at me then, and for the first time, I saw his eyes clearly — glowing faintly green, but human in their worry.

“I can do that,” I said, nodding. “But to get her access, I’ll have to tell Batman something. And I should probably ask what your name is. You just dropped a world-ending problem in my lap — I’d at least like to have a name for the face that comes with it.” I hesitated, then smirked.

“Especially one that’s this pretty.”

His lips quirked up. “Daniel Fenton. You can call me Danny. And you’re not so bad yourself, handsome.”

Damn it. That shouldn’t have been as hot as it was.

“As for payment,” I said quickly, trying to recover, “I need a plus one for a gala my adoptive dad is hosting. All my siblings already have dates, and I’d rather not be the odd one out again. Normally, I wouldn’t ask for anything — but since you already know who I am, there’s really no point in not taking advantage of it.”
I extended my hand — not sure if it was for a handshake or just to steady him. He took it anyway, holding it firmly.

“I can work with that,” Danny said with a grin. “But I still need to repay you properly. Going to a gala isn’t enough. Please — I can’t owe you. Tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen.”

“I don’t need payment for doing the right thing,” I said softly. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ll think of something later.”
He nodded, seeming relieved. “When’s the gala? And when should I come over to plan our cover story? Can’t exactly walk into one of Bruce Wayne’s galas claiming we’re dating without a believable backstory.” He smirked. “I can come by tomorrow — if you’re free. And yes, before you freak out, I know where you live. You’re not the only stalker who can find things they shouldn’t.”

I flushed despite myself. That should not have been that hot.

“Tomorrow’s fine,” I said, forcing composure. “Let’s say six o’clock at my place. And before I forget—put your number in my phone. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know so you’re not waiting all night.”

He took my phone, typed in his number, and handed it back—just as the windows exploded inward.

Batman and Robin stormed the room, smoke curling from the shattered glass.

“Red Robin, report,” Batman ordered. “You’ve been offline for over an hour. Oracle couldn’t reach you.”
I stood quickly, pocketing my phone. “A new informant gave me intel on a bill that violates the Meta Protection Act. I met with him about fifty minutes ago; he left about ten minutes before you arrived. I turned off my earpiece and camera to protect his identity. According to the government, he’s non-sentient — so I gave him privacy. He didn’t give me a name, just a meeting time for a follow-up.”

Batman’s eyes flicked to the ropes on the floor.

“Ropes?” Damian asked, frowning.

“I found them like that,” I said easily. “There was no one else here besides the informant, and he didn’t mention them.”
Batman grunted — his usual sign of reluctant acceptance — and turned toward the broken window. Robin hesitated, looking between me and the ropes before following him out.

As the silence settled, a voice whispered near my ear: “Thanks for not ratting me out. I definitely owe you now.”
I looked around, half-expecting to see something — but there was nothing there. I shook my head and smiled faintly.

This was going to be interesting.

Hours later, when I finally collapsed into bed, I couldn’t stop the grin tugging at my lips.

Tomorrow was going to be… interesting.

It’s almost 5:30 when I hear a knock on the door. I jumped a little because not many people bother me at home when I remember it’s Danny. I let a small smile grace my face as I go to open the door. What I don’t expect is for Danny to have blood dripping down his arms. I quickly bring him in before I make sure no one saw and there is no blood anywhere on the ground. Once I’m sure there isn’t anything I close and lock the door.

“What happened?” I ask moving to grab the first aid kit that I have in my kitchen.

“Oh nothing too bad, just that my parents found out and didn’t take it too well. I guess you need more information. I’m not fully a ghost. At the same time I’m not a full human. I’m what's known as a halfa. Half ghost, half human. Think of me like Schrodinger’s boy. So I have a ghost form and a human form. They found me transforming and shot me. I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Danny said as I started to clean and stitch him up. He definitely has a healing factor otherwise he wouldn’t have made it this far.

“How far away are your parents and do I have to call anyone to get them to stop and not get you?” I asked slightly panicked. If he ran here how far away are his parents and how much could I protect him from guns that I know nothing about.

“A few states away. I don’t live in Gotham. I’m from a small town called Amity park, Illinois,” He said calmly. I nodded my head before what he said caught up to me.

“How did you get here? We are in New Jersey?” I ask once I realized he came from a few states away

“I flew? I’m sorry did we not talk about my powers yesterday? So much was happening that I must have forgotten. I can fly, turn invisible and intangible, I have what are called ecto blast, and a few others that aren’t important to this conversation. I also have speed and a healing factor. I guess those are kinda important as well. Sorry I’m rambling a bit” Danny said counting on his fingers for the powers he had.

As I was stitching him up I noticed that his body was disintegrating the material I was using to stitch his wounds back together. I would normally be panicking but it looks like he was already starting to heal. That was good. I don't want him to die before I even get to get those terrible acts taken away. Not to mention he said he was the only thing keeping this other dimension from declaring war on the whole United States.

“Oh where are my manners? Hi Tim, how are you on this gloomy day?” he said when he noticed I was done cleaning him up. I would be smiling if it weren’t so obvious that he was still in some small amount of pain.

“You come to my apartment half an hour early bleeding and now you are making jokes? Remind me to never introduce you to my brother. He died and now makes jokes about it constantly. Or to Dick who makes puns. Or to Cass who would want to… you know what I change my mind I’ll just go to the gala alone. I don’t need you meeting my family. That would be more chaos than I am prepared for,” I say smiling. It feels good to be able to joke around with people. Even if that someone was bleeding out on my floor not too long ago.

“Noooooooo. I need to meet your family. I need to find out who black bat is. I also want to mess with Duke and see if he clocks me as a ghost,” He says laughing. I find myself laughing with him.

Once we both calm down I show him around my place.There isn't much here but it’s home. Once all that's out of the way I see that he is starting to fall asleep so I bring him to my room. I only have one bed and I have to go out as Red Robin tonight anyway so it's not too big a deal. I left him to sleep as I headed down to the nest. It’s not as fancy as the batcave, but it’s mine and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Before patrol I think of what I could ask Danny for as payment. I don’t need money as being co-CEO of a company pays well along with my inheritance from my parents. I could ask him for more rare collectors items, but that doesn't feel quite right either. I’ll have to think more about it later for now I suit up and head on patrol a bit early. Maybe I’ll run into Signal and ask what he thinks about this whole thing

I’m just finishing up patrol when I get a notification from Danny on my personal phone. If that's not a reason to finish up asap I don’t know what is. And I just thought of the perfect payment. I mean he can say no and I’ll think of something else but why not try.

“I’m back Danny. What's up?” I ask a bit awkwardly. He’s sitting in my bed only wearing a small pair of boxers. I flush at the sight. He looks delicious. I hope he says yes because I’m getting hard just looking at him.

“Oh I didn’t think you would be back this soon. I was just checking over my new injuries and seeing what will leave a scar and what I’ll have to hide. What’s on your mind? You look like you want to say something or eat me. I can’t tell,” he said looking at my face really intensely.

“Ithoughtofapayment. Iwanttofuckyourthroat,” I said quickly hoping he didn't understand and we could move past this. But from the darkening look in his eyes I could tell he understood perfectly.

“You want payment in form of fucking my face? That doesn't seem very gentlemanly like of you. What are you going to do IF I were to refuse?” he said, stepping closer to me. I take a step back out of habit more than anything. I don’t know what's come over me. I’m never like this. I could hear the teasing in his voice so I decided to try something

“If you were to refuse,”I said, starting to step toward him, “I would simply think of something else and we would go our separate ways after the anti-ecto acts are abolished. But from how you are looking at me I don’t think that’s what you want is it? You want me to fuck your pretty little throat until I cum down it. I think you want me to pin you to the bed after and fuck you like a wild animal. But you can refuse and we stop this little game right here and never talk about it again. What do you think sweetheart?” With every step forward he took a step back until he was backed into a wall breathing hard with dilated eyes.

“I think you need to shut up and kiss me,” no sooner had the words left his mouth than my lips were on his. They were so soft and very nice to kiss. I wanted to taste him and devour him all at the same time. He tasted like a cookie, so sweet and warm. I could kiss him forever and never grow hungry. He pulled away to breath and I attacked his neck . I lick and suck all over until he is breathless again. I then travel down and pull one of his nipples into my mouth. That has him gasping for air. I bring my hand down to play with the other as I continue to bite and suck on one. After I feel like it's enough I do the same treatment to the other before he pulls me back up to his waiting mouth.

I tangle my hand into his hair as I start to grind on him. He moans and I lick into his mouth savoring the taste. I kiss him until I pull away with a string of saliva connecting us. His eyes are still closed and he is panting. I smile at the thought that I could bring him this breathless with just a few kisses. I tug his hair again and go back to kissing his neck. He brings his hands to my hair and just holds on like a lifeline.

“Tim, nggg. I need more. Please,” He says, still struggling to catch his breath. I smile against his neck as I pull away. All the red is starting to fade. I frown a little at that. Darn his stupid healing factor. Guess I’ll have to find another way to mark him up.

“More? What do you need, baby? Tell me and I’ll give it to you,” I say as I lean in to lick his ear before going back to his neck.

“I want you in my throat. I want to blow you and then have you take over and fuck my throat raw. Please. I’ve been a good boy, please,” his begging is so cute. I kiss him as I walk backward towards my bed.

“You want to be a good boy? Then on your knees. I’ll give you what you want,” I say as I throw a pillow onto the floor. He kneels on the floor looking at me through his lashes. Fuck he’s so hot on his knees. I wish I could keep him like that forever, but right now I have a problem that needs to be fixed.

I pull my pants down and throw them to the side, same with my shirt leaving me in just my underwear. I go to pull them down when I get a better idea. I grab him by the hair and pull him towards my crotch. He immediately gets to work and tries to suck my dick through the boxers I have on before his hands come up and pull them off.

“Such a good boy. Why don’t you show me just how much you want me to fuck your pretty little throat raw,” I say as he put his mouth over my cock again and starts to suck. I don't know if it's my imagination or if it's part of him being a ghost but his throat is not as hot as I was expecting and it feels amazing.

He started to bob his head and it honestly felt even better than anyone else I’ve ever been with. I put my hands in his hair just to hold onto something as he keeps bobbing his head. I look down and look into his stunning blue eyes and get lost a little in how blown out they are. I feel him move his hands to my hips and push. I guess he’s ready for me to get to what I wanted. I slowly start to thrust my hips and am surprised he doesn’t gag. I start to go a little harder when he swallows around me. I almost cum right then and there but I don’t because I don’t want this to stop.

“Fuck… your throat feel amazing,” I say as I continue to thrust into his mouth. I pause for a moment as I'm as far into his throat as I can get and just let him swallow around me a few times. If I could keep him in this apartment for as long as I want he would never leave and just stay so I could use him whenever I wish. That's a thought for later as right now he’s looking at me through his lashes and taps my leg. I pull out of his mouth as he sucks on the head one last time.

“As much as I would love to have you down my throat for the rest of my afterlife I believe there was something else you promised to do,” he says in a slightly raspy voice. Damn, maybe I will keep him after this whole thing is done if he's that agreeable to it at this moment.
I look him in the eyes as I drag him up by the hair to start kissing him again. He reacts almost immediately and is kissing me back with vigor. I grab his hips and start to lead him up towards the middle of the bed. When his knees hit the side I push him down and drop to my knees. He sits up onto his elbows and looks at me confused before I smirk and suck his cock down in one go. He falls back onto the bed and moans loudly.

I reach under my bed feeling for the small box I keep hidden there. When I feel it I pull it out and grab what I’ll need. I grab the lube and a cock ring. I pull off his cock and slip the cockring on before he has any idea what happened. I then open the lube with a small click and pour a generous amount of it on my hand. I move down and start mouthing at his hole and get a loud moan in response.

“Tim, please more. I need more,” he begs and I lick over his hole a few times before I stick my tongue in and hear him make a small gasp and
melt like putty in my hands. I start to tongue fuck him as I slick up my cock and a few fingers. I bring a hand up and push one finger in alongside my tongue and he moans even louder.

“TIM!” he screams as I hit his prostate. I keep putting more pressure there and watch as he comes undone at the attention. I pull the cockring off and he’s cumming right as I get it off.
Perfect. I think as I watch him relax again. I then move and push another finger in as I pull my tongue out. He moans and pushes back weakly on the fingers.

“Look at how pretty you are with my fingers in your ass. Maybe I should just keep you here tied up and ready for me anytime I feel like. Would you like that pretty boy? Being tied up and fucked until you can’t even remember you own name. Shaking as I take you apart again and again and again before I relent and fuck you hard until I’m cumming deep in you. You would be showered in all the things you could ever want and would never have to leave the bed,” I say as I keep finger fucking him and adding a third finger. He’s drooling and looks absolutely destroyed already.

“YES! Want that! Please fuck me. I don’t know how much more I can take,” he sobs and begs. He’s so pretty begging for me. I decide that I can play with him more later but I’m also getting worked up and just want to fuck him. I pull out my fingers and before he has a chance to miss them I push my cock in in one go. He melts again as I still for a second to let him get used to the feeling.

When I feel like he has adjusted enough I start to thrust. Slowly at first and then I pick up the pace as I fuck into him hard. He’s a moaning and sobbing mess and cums again. I wonder if I can get him to cum for a third time as I’m fucking him.

“Pretty baby. You look like a god anytime you cum. Wanna see if we can make it three times?” I ask into the shell of his ear. He nods while still moaning and gasping for breath. Does he even need to breathe? Maybe I could test that out and have him cock warm me the next time I have a meeting.

I shake my head and focus on fucking into him harder and faster. I change angles a few times until he almost screams in pleasure. I found what I was looking for and fuck into that spot relentlessly. I feel him tighten and know I’m not far behind him this time. I slow down and focus on hitting that one spot that will make him see stars as hard as I can. He whimpers as he comes for a third time as I pump him full of my own cum.

I slowly pull out and run to the bathroom to grab a wet towel and some water for him. As I walk back into the bedroom I see him still dazed and looking properly fucked. I smile to myself as I clean him up. I press small kisses to his wrists and head as I wipe him down.

“I would not be opposed to that, you know. Being kept in bed and not having to worry about any government agencies coming after me just for existing,” he says out of the blue as I go to throw the towel in the laundry basket. I walk back to the bed and pull him into my arms. He settles against me as I put my head on top of his.

“We can discuss that when I find a way to get rid of that agency for good. Until then we just need to keep you safe and healthy so you can help me take them down. For now baby we should sleep. We’ve had an eventful day. Promise me you won’t disappear on me again?” I say as I yawn. I feel him nod his head as we both drift off to sleep.

I slowly wake up and feel another person breathing into my chest. I have a split second where I forgot that Danny is over and we had sex last night. I relax again as I hold him and pull him closer then he already was causing him to groan.

“Good morning,” he says against my chest and I kiss the top of his head in response. It feels oddly domestic in a way and it's a feeling I could get used to if I’m being completely honest. I almost don’t want to let go but I have to pee so I sadly release him and go to stand up. He pulled me back with more strength than I thought he possessed.

“I need to pee. I’ll be right back I promise,” I say as he grumbles about his heater leaving. I choose to ignore that little comment and run to the bathroom where I pee and brush my teeth before I head back out and find him sitting up in bed. He seems to almost be glowing in the light coming from the windows and I’m reminded that he is some powerful being that is the only thing standing between us and an interdimensional war.

“I hate to do this but we need to get up and start working on getting those acts abolished. How do you feel about giving an interview to Lois Lane and Clark Kent? I can set it up in less than an hour and be there with you if you need it. We will have to go not in civilian form for it to show how important this topic is,” I say as I walk to the side of the bed and pull him to his feet.

“That’s reasonable, I just wish we had time for another round but knowing myself it would be more than one round,” he said, placing a small kiss on my lips and walking to find wherever his clothes ended up. I watch as he slowly puts on his clothes, having to remind myself to get dressed as well. I pull on some underwear and sweat pants deciding to forgo the shirt as I’ll need to change into my Red Robin suit soon anyway.

I send a quick text to Bruce about needing to set up a meeting with Lois and Clark. I’m vague with the details and just told him its top priority. I get confirmation as I look around my apartment for edible food for two people. I really need to go shopping.

“Bruce said he set up a meeting with them at 10:30 in Metropolis. How do you want to get there? We can drive in one of my cars or if you're good with it my motorcycle,” I say as I bite down on a piece of slightly stale bread. Looking at the clock, that's in two and a half hours.

“I could just fly us there invisible. It would take less time as there’s not as much traffic in the sky,” he says with a smirk. ‘Damn he’s good at jokes and sexy? Jackpot,’ I think as I finish my bread.

“That does sound more convenient, and gives us some time before we have to leave for me to show you around here and the Nest. I will warn you that you are going to be the first person besides myself in the nest as I’m a bit protective of it,” I say and I pull him towards the elevator. As we are going down I can’t help but think of all the ways this interview could go. I don’t know how this escaped the JL’s notice for so long.

“I can see that mind spinning from here. What’s on your mind birdy?” Danny says and he comes to stand behind me and grabs my waist. I lean back into him and just live in the moment. It’s a bit scary how fast my body and mind have accepted him. Not even my family have been able to shut off my mind with a single touch.

“Just backup plans for if something bad happens. Being raised by no one then suddenly having Bruce take me in I’ve always have had to do it on my own in a sense. You coming to me for help instead of any of my brothers is new to me, and the fact that you make me feel safe in a way no one has before. I’m just soaking in the blissful peace before shit hits the fan,” I say as we start to sway a bit back and forth.

It's at this point I realize how tall he is when we are both standing back to front. Why would he let me top if he is so much taller? Is he a switch or did he do it for my benefit? Before my mind could do more racing he kisses the top of my head and then my neck and smiles into it as he breathes into the crook of my neck.

“Stop thinking so loud. You didn’t do anything to me I hadn’t asked for. Next time I could help you turn off that pretty brain of yours if you want,” He whispered into the shell of my ear. I think about maybe rescheduling the interview before the doors to the elevator open and we are in the nest.

I untangle myself from the hold but keep him close by holding his hand as I show him around. I show him the computer and notice he stays about 10 feet away from it. Next I show him my lab where I work on both gadgets and some chemical components for helping to stop the effects of Joker Venom and Ivy’s pollen. I show him where I keep all my weapons and then go to get changed into my red robin outfit.

I look at myself in the mirror before stepping out and notice a small red mark on the side of my neck. Did this menace give me a visible hickey? I pull down the collar of my suit and it looks more like a tattoo than a hickey. How did he do that? I might have to design a new suit with a higher collar to hide it, or invest in makeup to cover it.

“Tim, are you all good in there? You’ve been in there for 10 minutes and I’m starting to get a bit nervous,” I hear from the other side of the door. I give an affirmative grunt and I pull the collar over what it will cover before I walk out of the changing stall. He was standing right where I left him but now looking completely different. He had white hair and green eyes. He was in a hazmat suit with a DP on it. He also had what looked like a crown of the milky way and a cloak of stars.

“You look hot,” I say stupidly before my brain even processed what I was saying. I look away with a small blush on my cheeks when I feel him standing in front of me pulling my face to look at him. He has a small smile on his face before he leans down to kiss me. It's soft and sweet, unlike any kiss from last night that was hard and hot. I relax into the kiss and just stay there for a few minutes before my brain reminds me of the interview.

“As much as I would love to keep making out, we sadly have an interview that we can’t miss. I’ll message Clark and tell him to just wait in his office and we’ll be there in… how long does it take you to fly to Metropolis?” I say between more kisses. He leans back a bit before connecting our foreheads.

“I can either portal if I have been there before or know the exact gps coordinates, or fly there in about 15 while carrying you. Portaling is faster but it takes more energy than flying there. But ultimately it is up to you as I have more than enough energy to make at least two portals. Hell I have enough energy to pull a town into a different dimension and bring it back before I break a sweat,” Danny mumbled into my head.

“As much as portals are fun, I don't trust you to not accidentally wind up in a different dimension now that that’s something I know you can do. And I like flying. I’ll tell Clark we’ll be there in 15 minutes,” I say back as he picks me up into a bridal carry. If I were any less of a man I might have squeaked at that, but I was trained by Batman, Ra's Al Goul and have more composers than that.

True to his word we got there in 13 minutes and 34 seconds. Not that I was timing him, but secretly I was. We landed on the roof invisible and maybe intangible I could tell. I lightly put my foot on the ground hoping to every god out there I don’t fall through the roof, I don't and get out of Danny’s arms fully. I gesture for Danny to make us visible and he does so without a second thought. I walk toward the roof access point and open the door and walk down the stairs with Danny following close behind me.

We walk silently down the hallway and into Clark's office without anyone even looking at us. If I didn’t know any better I would say that we are still invisible, but know for a fact we aren’t as I’m not holding Danny’s hand. Danny for his part was playing the part of a being with an overwhelming amount of power perfectly.

“Good morning gentlemen. I assume you are the person who Batman messaged about and it was a matter of great importance. I truly wish we had some more details before coming into this meeting,” Lois said right as we were about to walk into the office. She was already there with Clark looking as much a professional reporter as always.

“Hello Lois, Clark. Sorry about the short notice, but because of the situation at hand any information that is sent to you via phones could be compromised. I have evidence that the US government has passed a law that directly contradicts the meta protection act of XXXX. I looked up these laws and they are real. I have also found someone who is willing to tell you more about how it’s affecting them,” I say before closing the sound proof door. When I positive that no one else can hear me I say, “The US government has basically declared war on another dimension and the only being stopping that from happening is him”

“Don’t you know how to suck the fun right out of things Red,” Danny said before taking a seat in mid air like it’s nothing. I chuckle and sit down across from Lois. It’s at this point that I realize I forgot to ask some very important information from Danny. What he is called in this form.

“That does seem like a pretty big deal Red Robin. I hope this being, as you have called them, has a name,” Clark said, picking up his pen.

“I have many names that I am referred to as. Phantom- Ghost hero of Amity Park, High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms, Keeper of Balance, Future ancient of space, True Halfa, and many more. You may call me Phantom,” Phantom said leaning on his leg with his arm resting his chin in his hand.

“I apologise your Highness. I was unaware that you were royalty. If you are agreeable to it we can start the interview,” Lois said after getting over her moment of shock. Damn he’s good at dropping metaphorical bombs. Phantom waved his hand in a gesture to continue.

“Kind Phantom, how was it you were made aware of these acts?” Lois started looking at her notepad to not seem disrespectful by looking him in the eye. Smart. An unknown royal could consider it rude to look at them directly.

“They apply to me. This whole thing started about 6 years ago when some local town scientists opened a portal to what they called the ghost zone, but is more commonly known as the Infinite Realms. I was there when the portal opened and the first ghosts started coming out,” Phantom said in almost a bored voice. “I kept them in check as much as I could before the scientists and the local mayor signed into law that we were not sapient or sentient. It was called the anti-ecto-act, it passed all the way through and made it a nation wide law. About a year after the portal opened my whole town was pulled into the infinite realms because a human opened the sarcophagus that the previous king was imprisoned in. I fought him in single combat and won the title of High King.

“Just recently these scientists signed a contract with the GIW or the Ghostly Investigation Ward that all their inventions would go to the GIW. Now these scientists have gotten many things wrong, but one thing they got correct is that ectoplasm hurts ectoplasm, the thing I am made of. They built weapons that could be considered war crimes if ghosts were considered sentient.” Phantom said looking directly ahead as if seeing things that weren't really there.

“I am sorry to hear that your Highness. Are there any happy things that have come out of this very unhuman violation of the meta protection acts?” Clark asked after a moment to soak up all the information.

I see a ghost of a smile on Phantom's face as he says, “Before I was king my arch nemesis cloned me and now I have another cousin? Or did we decide she is my sister? Or was it my daughter? I never remember as we change what we refer to each other as. She is one of the brightest lights in my life. If it weren’t for her I would have had no reason to fight the previous king, but he tried to end her and that is something I don’t take lightly. You see as ghosts we don’t really die as we are already dead. What happens is if our core, all of the insides in one convenient spot, is crushed we fade into nothingness. We call it final death and is considered the worst crime a ghost can commit. The previous king was responsible for such an act and why he was locked away.”

I see Clark tighten his jaw before forcing himself to relax. His experience with clones isn’t the best and he doesn’t have a good relationship with his clone.

“I see, but how does that pertain to the anti-ecto-acts?” Lois asked, jotting down what he said.

“The GIW has her somewhere and I am unable to find her. They have had her for at least a week and the last time and only time they had me they vivisected me and laughed as I screamed in pain. They had me for three months and in that time did so many experiments and almost found my core. I don’t want my little starlight to be ended because of them,” he said with a steal in his voice as the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. I now see why he sought me out. His clone who he considers family is about to die and he feels powerless.

“Oh my. I am so sorry to hear that. I can get this paper written up in less than 24 hours and have it published all over the US by tomorrow if you want. It might slow down those damn GIW people, pardon my language, from what they are doing and focus instead on me. And before you ask, I will be contacting Batman about getting to a safe place before it is printed so you don’t have to worry about my safety on top of everything else. I just hope we are able to get to her in time,” Lois said, saying the last part under her breath. I just nodded and went to walk out before I turned and say one last thing.

“Put in the article that they have at least one child and that anyone could be considered one of these entities if they have the meta gene,” I don’t know if it’s true but with how insane the GIW sounds it might be possible. And with that I leave with Phantom following behind me.
When we got back to the roof and were invisible I heard Phantom whisper in my ear, “What makes you think they have metas?” I shrug as I couldn’t tell him that it was a gut feeling and that my gut feelings were normally correct.

Chapter Text

We got back to the nest, this time via a portal as Phantom has been here before and could get us here faster. I went and changed out of my Red Robin uniform into just some sweat pants, again forgoing the shirt as I didn’t want to wear one. When I was done I saw Phantom was back to Danny and chilling on a couch I keep down in the nest for when I’m too tired after patrol to get upstairs.

I walk over to him and pull him up and walk towards the elevator. That interview didn’t take nearly as long as I was expecting it to, so now I have time to catch up on some WE paperwork that I have been putting off. Maybe I could put one of my plans into action and see if he is up for a bit of cockwarming either with his mouth or maybe we could try something completely different and have me cockwarm him. That second one sounds more relaxing to me.

“I have some WE work that I have to get done but my brain is a bit full. Want to help me quiet it down a bit?” I ask when we are back in the apartment. He makes an interested hmm and I pull him over to the couch. I push him down as I get to my knees. He’s looking at me with slight amusement in his eyes as I pull his pants down a small amount. Just enough to get his half hard cock out.

“How will you get any work done if you're on your knees for me sweetheart?” He asks as I stroke him to be fully hard.

“I won’t be on my knees for long, I just need to get ready so I can take you,” I say as I grab lube from under the couch. Hey I have some stored in almost every room just in case. Never thought I would have to use it but here we are. I pull my pants down and off as I pop the bottle open. I squirt a small amount of lube onto my hands as I push one finger in.

“Go slow birdy, don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Danny said as I tried to push in the second finger before I’m completely used to the first. I nod as I slowly wiggle my first finger around while making small breathless noises and add the second finger.

I continue until I have three fingers in myself and it doesn’t burn anymore. I get up on slightly shaky legs as I turn around and sit on his lap. He adjusted himself so that his dick would go in the first try. I moan as I feel the slight burn of being filled. Damn it's been a while since I’ve played with myself, probably as long as I’ve not had a partner to play with.

“What now baby? I could fuck up into you if thats what you’re going for, or do you want to ride me?”Danny says pumping his hips a small amount. I shook my head and just stayed where I was for a minute. He started to kiss my head and neck and anywhere he could reach.

“I just want you in me. I want to cockwarm you while I’m working,” I say slightly embarrassed. I feel him chuckle on my back as he relaxes and just stays still. I readjust myself so I have better footing before grabbing my rolling desk and pulling towards myself. I open my laptop only to see that I am needed in a meeting in two minutes. ‘Fuck’ I think as I scan the room for a shirt of any kind.

“Danny I need your shirt,” I say as I noticed he still had it on. He shrugged it off and handed it to me. I slip it on before I adjust us again so Danny is laying on the couch, me still on his dick and the camera showing just chest up. I take a deep breath before I join the meeting.

“Good morning Mr. Drake-Wanye. I was hoping you would be in office today to have this meeting with these so called scientists who are wanting funding, but Mr. Wayne said you were feeling under the weather so it was moved online. Is there anything you need to know before I allow these self proclaimed Doctors into the board room?” Tammy said looking like she would rather not be part of this meeting.

“I need to know their names Tammy. I also need to know what they need funding for, and if it's something the Martha Wayne Foundation supports already,” I say and look to the side where I see Danny playing on his phone with one hand and the other on my hip rubbing small circles.

“Of course. Their Names are Drs. Madeline and Jackson Fenton. They claim to be the top scientists for ghosts and ectoplasm. To me they sound like a bunch of local mad scientists, but they have some backing from others and that's how they were able to get this meeting set up,” Tammy said. I felt Danny hold on my waist tighten before he let up on the strength.

How could I forget that his last name is Fenton. I should have banned them from ever entering WE. Well now's a good time to get a few answers from them about their science and how their inventions work. If only to be able to better combat them in the future.

“Thank you Tammy. And sorry for not letting you know about feeling unwell. I was hoping I didn’t have any meetings and would just be able to focus on all the other paperwork that you are having me do,” I said, making a small jab at her bossiness. Even though I’m her boss she's the one who gets the final say and what is of the most importance in terms of paperwork. God bless personal assistants.

I felt Danny move a bit to be able to see the screen without it seeing him or dislodging his dick from inside me. I just know if I didn’t have that reminder that he was with me I would be worried for him. He did say his parents found out and didn’t take it well. He smirks and moves his hips a little pushing deeper inside. I sigh silently as he does this and thank my lucky stars that he’s ok doing this for me.

At that same moment the Drs. Fenton walked in with what looked like blue prints and journals. I can only guess security wouldn’t let them bring actual weapons into the building.

“Good morning Mr. Drake-Wanye. My name is Dr. Maddie Fenton and this is my husband Dr. Jack Fenton. We currently have funding from two other sources and are hoping to get a third. We study ghosts. I know what you’re thinking, that ghosts aren’t real but I can assure you they are. We were here to help with your green energy initiative. You see we have found a way to turn ecto into a renewable energy source. As you can see from these blue prints and this data analysis we have cut the energy bill of almost an entire city in Illinois to nothing. There are some people in the city who refuse to change and that's why it's not 100% effective,” Maddie started. I then felt Danny start to thrust a small amount in and out of me. Having to put more energy into concentrating on the current task was slightly annoying.

“I see. What are the current sources of funding you already receive?” I ask as Danny puts a bit more energy and power into his thrusts. I push one hand down and try to still his hips before he shows himself on camera.

“We receive funding from the government to create weapons for them as well as one of our old college friends Vlad Masters. Vladdie was actually there when we started this whole research into this new energy source. I am sorry to say this, but you aren’t looking the best Mr. Drake-Wanye. Are you feeling alright enough to continue this meeting?” Jackson answered my question before redirecting himself. I look at my little screen and see that I am paler than usual and sweating a bit. I was not going to tell him that his son that he has tried to kill is currently slowly fucking me.

“Thank you for your concern Dr. Fenton. I was hoping it would not be this noticeable. If you leave the blueprints with Tammy I will look over them when I am able to come into the office. I would also be willing to meet with you both again when I am feeling better and ask more about how this energy works. If that's all I think I’m going to go. Have a good rest of your stay in Gotham,” I say politely before hanging up and closing my laptop.

“You are an absolute menace. I was trying to see if I could get more information out of them in regards to any facilities that they visit, but no you had to go and cause a distraction,” I say as Danny is now fully fucking up into me. I turn the rest of the way so that I’m straddling him and push his hips onto the couch as I start to bounce up and down on his cock.

He smirks before leaning up and kissing me as I continue to ride him hard and fast. He then does something I’m not expecting and starts to float and I’m left having to grab his shoulders to keep steady. He floats all the way to the ceiling and pushed my back against it as he starts to fuck into me again.

I don’t know how I got into this position, being fucked against my own celilng by a half ghost, but I’m not going to complain. Best sex I’ve had in years, not including last night. He is flying to a different place again but I’m to busy being fucked out of my mind to notice. I only do when my back hits the bed and Danny is on top of me fucking even harder. I’m definitely not going to be able to patrol for at least tonight and maybe tomorrow as well with how fast he’s going.

I feel him change the angle of his hips around before my eyes white out with pleasure. From how he keeps hitting that same spot he knows he found it too. I'm moaning his name with every breath he punches from my lungs. I also feel something slide down from the corners of my mouth the more I moan. He’s got me drooling like some sort of rabid dog. Damn no one has ever made me drool while topping me.

“Look at the mess you’re making. If I didn’t know any better I would say you’re nothing but a street whore begging for cock. Do you feel how deep my dick is in you? How it hits your prostate with every twitch? I should keep you here tied up like you said you would do to me, but then I would have an angry bat on my hands. We wouldn’t want that now would we?” he said into my ear. I could feel my orgasm coming fast. With how he was talking and how he kept hitting my prostate I wouldn’t last much longer.

When I tried to tell him he kissed me and moved one hand to my neglected cock and that was all it took before I was cumming in his hand. He slowed down but didn’t stop.

“I'm going to go until you are nothing but a shaking mess underneath me. I hope you didn’t have anywhere to be tonight because the only place you are going to be is right here in this bed. I’m going to make you a sobbing mess before I even think about stopping,” He said, still slowly moving his hips. He was more grinding into me at this point rather than full on thrusting.

“I don’t think you can out last me ghost boy. I bet you stop after round three like you did last night,” I said, coming back to earth. Before I knew it he had me flipped over on my hands and knees and was somehow getting deeper. I knew that the bastard was doing his little smirk but I couldn’t care as he quickly found my prostate again and was hitting it with pinpoint accuracy.

“Oh you wanna be a brat? I’ll show you how I treat brats like you,” He said, ramping up to an inhuman pace. God I knew I was definitely drooling now. He kept hitting my prostate and put his hand back on my cock. I was already so close again, but had to hold out.

“Is this the best you can do? My female ex’s have pegged me harder than you are right now,” a small lie, but it got the desired response. He leaned over me and bit my shoulder with what felt like fangs. I came as soon as he bit me. He didn’t stop. I was starting to get oversensitive and didn’t know if I could keep going. I wanted to tap out but he slowed down to just grinding again.

‘How does he know when to stop?’ I thought as he’s still grinding into my prostate. As soon as the over sensitive feeling backed off a bit he was back at his hard, fast, pinpoint accurate thrusts. I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping me up at this point were his hands on my body. I didn’t even notice my arms give out.

“I. Think. You’re. Lying,” he said each word with a hard thrust. “I think you just don’t want to admit that you’re wrong.”

I was almost shaking with all the different stimulations going on. His hard thrusts, his hand on my cock, him biting my neck, and him twisting my nipples. If I didn’t already know he wasn't human I would be questioning how he was holding himself up.

Before he said another word he was cumming deep inside me but didn’t stop. His cock didn’t soften even a little. He must have a short or non-existent refractory period. He kept fucking me through his orgasm and didn’t let up at all. Damn, I might be wrong about him stopping after round 3 if he doesn’t have a refractory period.

He kept up his inhuman pace and I came for a third time. It was almost a dry cum and was almost painful but it turned to pleasure as he bit the other side of my neck. I’m going to look like I was attacked by a vampire if he keeps biting me in visible places.

“Are you ready to admit defeat yet? I have no other plans and can keep going and going until you pass out from the pleasure of it all,” He said into my ear again. I almost nodded before stopping myself. I’m nothing if not stubborn. With all the strength I still have I push back into his thrusts. I feel that stupid sexy smirk on my neck before he pulls away and I’m flipped again.

“You sure know how to make a guy feel special don’t you birdy. I’ve never found someone who can match my stamina. Closest was when I had two partners and even then they couldn’t match. Lets see how much more your mortal body can take before you pass out,” he said, still jackhammering his hips into mine.

I lasted another hour and half before I passed out. I don’t know how many times I came. I lost count after 5 and even then they were all dry after that point. When I woke up he was gently wiping me down with a clean washcloth and pressing small kisses to all the bruises he left on my body.

“Good to see I didn’t break you entirely. I was scared that you had died when you passed out. Then again it’s not like I would never see you again, I just like you living more than you possibly being dead,” He whispered when he was done cleaning me up. I just opened my arms and he collapsed into them and sighed.

“Not even death would stop me from getting these laws repealed. I would just have to will myself back to life like my brother did,” I responded in the same hushed tone. It feels so nice to be able to just relax and have some comfort before my family finds out about him.

“We still need to find this person you talked about earlier. Your starlight. What does she go by?” I ask after a few minutes of silence. I feel him shift his head so he is able to talk again.

“When we last spoke she changed it from Dani-with-an-I to wanting to be called Ellie. The frootloop who created her wasn’t very creative in the naming department and named her Danielle. He was and still is obsessed with my mom and making me his son. Too bad for him that that will never happen,” as he spoke I softly pushed my hands through his hair. It was so soft.

“Well I have a few days of PTO that I can use to be able to find her. We can go to the nest and I can hack into the GIW’s database and find out where they are holding captives. I highly doubt that they would use the names that the ghosts are called and more than likely will just use numbers and code words. Is there anything that you remember from your time with them?” I ask, still playing with his hair.

“They have a specific numbering system. My number was 0-9-1. The place they got me, how dangerous I am, and how much human emotion I show. They got me from Amity Park, or ground 0 as they call it. I am a max threat as I am king, they don’t know that they just know that I have never lost a fight. And emotion is self explanatory, I show more human emotion than other ghosts as I am only half ghost,” he answered, sitting up and listing it on his fingers. That was a scary way to categorize anything. If Batman knew I categorized anything like that he would have my head.

“Ok. What would Ellie's number be?” I asked as I went to stand. He follows me and grabs a pair of pants for me and himself. He also grabs us some underwear to wear. I pull the underwear and pants on and walk towards the elevator as he follows me.

“She would most likely be 0-9-1/copy as they would quickly find out she's my clone, or they would number her 0-7-2 subsection 356 or something around there. The subsection being the number of ghosts they caught before her. I was the first ghost they caught so I was subsection 0 meaning no other ghosts before me that they recorded,” he said. The more he talks the more I hate their process of identification.

“I can have Oracle hack into their database and see, or we can head down to the nest and look together. Whatever you want to do as she is important to you,”I say, coming up to stand behind him and planting a small kiss on his shoulder. He sighed and leaned back a bit as I hugged him. I plant more small kisses on all the visible scars knowing that in order to get them they had to have been from a big weapon or before his accident.

“I would prefer we keep this as close to home as possible. I know how the boy scout feels about clones. He’s made it obvious that he doesn’t like them so the farther I can keep him away from her the better. She may be my clone but she is more of my daughter than anything else,” he replied, bringing his hand to rest in my hair. We just stay like that for a while before he sighs and moves his hand from my head and steps away.

“I’ve already lost so much I don’t want to lose her. I don’t know if I’d be willing to stop the war if anything were to happen to her. She’s all I have left of my life before. I can’t lose her,” he said, sliding to the ground. I move to sit next to him and just stay there as support. Not touching him or forcing anything on him, just a constant presence.

“I promise with all I am and all I was that I will do everything I can to help bring your daughter back to you safely. I can’t promise that it won’t include my people. They are only second to me in their investigation skills and Oracle is a better hacker than I am,” At that point I jumped up with a thought.

“I know you said that you wanted to keep this as close to home as possible, but with Oracle’s hacking capabilities she would be faster at getting the information we need. And we can call Red Hood as he hates when people experiment on children, or really any crime involving children. We could also call in Black Bat and you can finally know who she is. I won’t tell you as that ruins most of the fun, but we can call her as she is the best at infiltration and intel gathering as no-one knows she is there,” I say as I start pacing the room as I spout all this.

“We might as well call the whole bat squad if that’s the case. I don’t want anymore people to have to keep secrets from Batman. Not because I don’t trust him, but because I’ve heard that he is impossible to lie to,” Danny said standing up and stopping my pacing with a gentle hand in mine.

“Oh no that’s not true at all. We all lie to Batman regularly, whether he believes it or not is up in the air, but we all lie to him about things. I’m the only one who has gotten away with a big lie so far, but that doesn’t mean the others can’t. They just haven’t.”

He let out a short, humorless laugh and shook his head. “That sounds like something you’d say to make me feel better. Which... thank you.” He hesitated, then reached into his belt and pulled out a small device — a discreet communicator that looked like it had seen better nights. “If we’re calling in favors, I don’t want to drag anyone into the middle of this without a reason. Oracle can get us a list of GIW’s recent transport manifests. If there’s a nest nearby, she’ll find it.”

“Then we start with Oracle,” I said, standing and sliding my hands into the pockets of the pants he’d handed me earlier. The motion felt intimate in a way I couldn’t explain — like we were already translating into a language only we knew. I reached up and brushed a phantom strand of hair from his forehead; he made a soft, involuntary noise and leaned into the touch for a beat longer than was strictly necessary.

I tapped the communicator twice, my fingers sure and fast. “Oracle,” I said into the device, and for a moment held my breath at the way the single word made the room feel smaller, as if everything outside could be shut out with a tone.

“Incoming,” came Oracle’s crisp voice a second later, like she’d been waiting for the call. “Tim? You sound like the sort of man who shouldn’t be awake at this hour. What’s wrong?”

I swallowed. “We need manifests. Recent GIW movements with civilian transfers flagged. Priority: experimental containment units, any reference to ‘subsections.’ I have a lead that might be connected to—” I cut myself off, and glanced at Danny. I could see the moment his heart stopped with fear. “—to a subject known as 0-9-1. Possible derivative subjects attached.”

There was a pause long enough for me to hear the hum of the building. Then Oracle’s dry little chuckle. “Of course you do. Give me five. I’ll ping you with what I find.”

Danny let out a breath then spoke. “That was faster than I expected,” he murmured. My hand found his again — fingers intertwined, rough glove against bare skin — and it grounded me in a way nothing else could. I didn’t ask what he was thinking; I just squeezed, and the squeeze said enough.

“We should tell Jason,” I said softly, as if hearing Oracle would instantly turn GIW into an old enemy at the door. “He has the kind of… directness we don’t have. He hates kids being used as props, and he doesn’t do things slowly like the rest of us. If anyone’s going to light a fire under the GIW’s operations, it’s him.”

“I mean that’s a good distraction for when we need to get Ellie out. Why did you suggest Black Bat? I can go invisible,” he said, as if it was obvious that he could just disappear.

“Because if you want the family’s approval if we continue with whatever we have going on, the first one you need approval from is Black Bat. A good way to get her approval is showing that you are not afraid of her or asking for her help.” I said, turning fully toward him.

“What is she like some kind of boss level I have to beat?” Danny snickered.

“Something like that,” I say as I pull him toward me and hug him, “even B knows that she doesn’t trust easily, so getting her on your side is a huge deal in this family.”

“Still won’t tell me her name?” he questioned. I shook my head and then started to play with his hair. He leans forward until he is laying on my chest and I’m laying on the bed unable to move. We stay like that for a few minutes until my comm beeps beside me.

“RR we have a situation,” I hear Oracle say. I groan and grab my comm putting it in my ear so I can hear what she is actually saying.

“There is chatter that the GIW, whatever that is, is moving a shipment with that number tonight. I say it’s your best opportunity to get whatever it is ASAP,” I snap to attention at those words and drag Danny with me toward the elevator.

“Thanks O. I’ll call you as I’m out, Red Robin out for now,” I say and tug the comm out of my ear. Then look to a very confused Danny, “They are moving her tonight. This might be our best bet to get her.”

Before the elevator opens Danny is already in his phantom form and flies me to the changing room. I would laugh at his eagerness if I also wasn’t so eager to get her back safely as well. I change as fast as I can and am out in the main area in less than 3 minutes.

“O we need to know where they are. I have someone here with me who can portal so don’t worry about the place just give me cords,” I say into my comm. I feel my phone buzz and see the coordinates of their last known location. I show them to Phantom and he opens a portal directly there. I hop on my bike and go through the portal phantom not far behind me.

As soon as my bike hits the asphalt we take off in the direction of the vehicle holding Ellie. We see it just ahead of us and speed up to catch it. I throw a birdarang and pop the tires on the car to stop them. When they come to a full stop some goons hop out and aim weapons at us.

“Echo scum. Trying to get back this other spook? You won’t get close,” a guy in a white lab coat says as he shoots at me. I let it hit me and nothing happened. I grin and launch at them and take them down like it was nothing, and in a way it was. They rely so much on their weapons that they don’t know what to do with normal humans.

“Guess you didn’t expect humans to hear about your little group huh?” Tim asked the unconscious body of the mad. At the same time the doors to the armored truck creaked. Phantom put his hand into the lock and pulled it out.

Inside the truck there was a tank with a girl who looked almost identical to Phantom with a few key differences, one being that the clone was female and looked young. She looks about 8-10 years old. Her hair was caked with green blood and she looked out of it.

“Oh Ellie, hey sweetheart you ready to leave?” Danny asked in the softest tone I’ve heard from him.

“Are you really here? They said you wouldn’t come for me, that you moved on, that you…” she trailed off at the end as her eyes started to flutter to fully close as she fell forward into Danny’s waiting arms.

“Portal us back to the nest. I have medical supplies there and it would be best to leave before reinforcements come,” I say. As I finish we hear the tall tell signs of tires on asphalt screech behind us. Phantom opens a portal as the first van comes to a screeching halt.

“Stop!” they yell right as the portal closes. I sigh and look over to Danny as both he and Ellie shift back to human form. Ellie’s transformation looks like it’s melting off her as Danny’s is a flash of two rings that seem to split him and change him back.

“Follow me,” I start walking towards the infirmary, “she needs medical attention. How do you feel if I call the doctor that Batman uses, she's very professional and knows all of us outside the masks as well.”

He just nods and sets her down on the hospital bed. The wound on her head has stopped bleeding and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. I fidget as I press Leslie's number on my phone. I sent a quick message about needing medical attention for someone. I get a response that she will be there in 5 minutes and I relay that message to Danny.

I walk up behind him and pull him into my arms. I feel him shake as the sleeve of my red robin suit gets wet with tears. I just hold him as gently and hard as I can as he starts to fall apart.

“I almost lost her. I still might lose her. I can’t stop the war if she dies. I wouldn’t care about anything anymore if I lose the last thing that ties me to this world,” he sobs into my shoulder. I don’t give him any empty words thatI can’t be positive will happen. I just hold him until I hear the knock on the door. I see Danny go stiff and pull away from me to stand next to Ellie again.

I walk to the other room and open the door to see Leslie. I let her in and have her follow me to the med bay portion of the nest. I see Danny bristle at the sight of her.

“It’s OK Phantom. This is Dr. Leslie, she knows us and works with Batman," then I turn to Leslie and tell her, “they have been hurt by people who claim to be doctors in white coats. If you could lose the coat, that would be appreciated.”

She nods and takes off the white coat slowly letting Danny watch her every move. Once she got it off she threw it to the other side of the room like it burned her.

“Hi Pantom. I can see that you are guarded and scared. Would it be ok for me to examine her?” Leslie said softly, as if talking to a cornered animal. Looking at that analogy it’s not wrong. He’s terrified and ready to attack at a moment's notice. I then see him give a small nod and step to the side to let Leslie get closer.

“Thank you. I’m just going to check where the blood is coming from and see if there is anything in the wound,” she said as she slowly moves to examine Ellie. I know she is just talking to help Danny feel better about a doctor being close to them after what they’ve been through. I see Danny relax the smallest amount as Leslie keeps talking about what she is doing.

“I’m now checking for any glass, splinters, or any foreign material in the wound. Nothing there that's good. I now need to clean it with an antiseptic to make sure there’s no bacteria. I’m not seeing any signs of a skull fracture so that’s good, easier healing, when she wakes up you will have to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion. Other than her head injury she seems to be a bit malnourished and dehydrated. Both are easy fixes with enough time and patients,” Leslie continued as she looked over Ellie’s body for any other injuries.

I nod as she finishes her exam of Ellie. I see her walk back towards me ignoring how Danny rushes back to Ellie’s side to check her over himself and make sure she’s still breathing.

“Tim, you have to be careful with her recovery, as well as his. He is suffering more than he’s showing. He seems tired and almost like he’s feeling her pain. Be careful,” is all she told me before leaving. I notice that she left her coat on the other side of the room as she shuts the door behind her.

“You need to rest Danny. We can bring her up to the apartment and she can sleep in the bed, but you look like you’re about to drop,”I say as I walk over to him. He nods and goes to pick up Ellie, but I beat him to it. She’s incredibly too light. We will need to introduce her to Alfred’s cooking at some point when she can be around other people.

We got up to the apartment rather quickly and I continued to my room with Danny following close behind. I set Ellie down on the bed and walk to the other side and sit on the edge of the bed. I watch as Danny crawls into the bed and curls around Ellie loosely.

“She’s safe,” I whisper more to the air than Danny at this point trying to remind myself that Danny sees her as a daughter and he almost lost her because the JL failed to notice something.

I hear Danny chirp sadly as he looks at me saying, “Thank you.” He then fell asleep curled around Ellie.

It was a few hours later when Ellie shifted. I slowly backed off the bed and crouched down in front of her. “Hey sweetheart,” I started keeping my voice steady, “You’re safe now.”

She shoots up startling Danny awake and into a protective stance looking for danger. He looks around the room and then looks confused as to the fact that there is no one else around besides Ellie and I.

“What happened, where’s the danger?” He asked, still looking around. I see Ellie point at me and I stay as still as I possibly can. Danny looks at Ellie and follows where her finger points and slightly relaxes.

“Ellie, this is Tim, or Red Robin. He’s the one who helped me find you baby. He’s also the one who is helping me overturn the GIW,” then said something in a different language that seemed to calm her down. She looked at me and seemed to be staring through my soul.

“Hi,” I start again, “sorry for startling you. If it makes you more comfortable I can leave the room and get you something to eat or drink.”
Ellie nodded and curled around Danny again. I nod back and go to stand up when I’m suddenly pulled into the cuddle pile. I try to escape the hold but it’s a fruitless effort with Danny’s super strength.

“Danny, I need to go get her food. You heard what Leslie said, she’s malnourished and she needs food,” I try to argue with Danny. He just grumbles and pulls Ellie and I closer. I sigh and relax into the hold and know I’m not going anywhere for the next few hours at least. I feel myself falling asleep against my will and try to stay awake, Danny chirps and I lose the battle to sleep.

When I wake up again I find myself still in the bed but this time I’m the one curled around Ellie with Danny nowhere in sight. I try to get up from the bed but Ellie makes what sounds like a wounded chip and I curl around her again. She sighs and curls further into me and I wrap my arms around her like Danny did not even a few hours ago.

“Good morning,” Danny says from the doorway, “I’m sorry for dragging you into the cuddle pile. Ghosts feed on emotions so she needed someone to basically smother her with positive emotions and I can’t exactly do that for her, it needs to be someone more alive. It also has the added benefit of getting her to recognize you as a safe person.”

I nod before saying, “You need to teach me how to understand the chirps you do. She chirped when I tried to get up and then again when I decided to stay before she cuddled closer. How long do you think she’s going to sleep? I want to be able to get some human food into her as well as some water.”

He shrugged before he walked over to the bed, leaned over and gave me a short kiss. He pulls away and I want to pull him back but am unable to because of the sleeping child in my arms. He chuckles and hands me my phone. I looked at him confused, then it started ringing and I answered.

“Hello?”

“Tim? Oh thank the gods. I called you and someone else answered your phone. Who is he?” I hear Stephine’s voice come through the speaker.

“Oh, that’s Phantom. He needed a place to stay because of the whole situation that I told B about a few days ago. It’s also the same person who helped me rescue a child from child experimentation at the hands of those monsters. If you need me for the next few days, no you don’t. I have to stay at the nest and help these people.”

“Understood. I will inform the rest of the team. And tim, take care of them. I was able to hack some of their servers and the things I saw done to them. I’m surprised that there isn’t a war already. Your boyfriend must be someone really powerful to be able to stop war on the whole of human kind,” she said and then hung up.

“Danny, what exactly did you tell her when you answered the phone?” I ask looking from Ellie to Danny. He just smiled and gave me another short kiss.

“Ew,” I heard a small whisper from the child in my arms. I laugh a little and try to release her but she makes that same sad chirp and I hold onto her again, resigned to the fact that I’m trapped for an unknown amount of time.

“Good morning gremlin,” Danny said affectionately and kissed Ellie on the top of the head. She stuck her tongue out at him and curled as far into my arms as she could. Danny just laughed and sat on the other side of the bed and opened his arms. Ellie looked from him to me, then back to him and uncurled from my chest and crawled over to him. He grabbed her as gently as you would a newborn and just held her.

“I’m so sorry Ellie. I wasn’t fast enough,” he whispered into her hair. She started shaking and I could tell that she was crying. He continued to whisper apologies into her hair as she cried harder, her small frame shaking from the sobs.

I get up from the bed to try to give them some privacy for this obviously emotional moment. Danny looks up from her head and mouths ‘Thank you’. I just nod and walk out of the room toward the kitchen.

I open the fridge and see I have nothing that would make a good meal. Maybe I should call Alfred and see if he can bring over something. I know I would burn the place down before I am able to make a meal half as good as he can.

I reach for my pocket for my phone and realize I have 15 missed calls from Jason.

Shit.

I go to call him back as soon as I realize the next step would be breaking into my apartment when I hear glass break and a scream.
I see Jason framed by the shattered window, gun raised, helmet reflecting the ghostlight that still clung to Danny’s skin and Danny bristling at the sight of a gun having pushed Ellie behind him. Her shoulders were shaking and I could see the beginning of tears streak down her face.

“JASON! Put the gun away!” I scream at him standing in between Danny and Jason with my back towards Danny.

“Damn replacement, I don’t come home for two weeks and you have a fucking boyfriend who has a child? What did I miss?” Jason snarks, holstering the gun and putting his hands into the air.

“A whole lot Jason. For starters, the US government has all but declared war on another dimension by doing experiments on their High King and the high princess of that realm. Maybe you should read your texts from B before you decide to break into my apartment, scaring the child I just rescued from that so-called government agency,” I snap back still standing between Danny and Jason. Even with his guns away he could still pose a threat to Danny.

“Woah. Shit. And how did you get mixed up in all this Timbo? And better question why does he glow like the god damn Pits?” Jason said, slamming himself down into the chair in the corner of the room.

“What are the pits?” I hear Ellie ask Danny. I resist the urge to turn my back on Jason but do step back towards Ellie and Danny. Once I’m sure Jason won’t do anything drastic. I pull Ellie into my arms. She’s still shaking but it’s not as much as when Jason first came in.

“The Pits are glowing toxic green pools of liquid that kills the healthy and heals the sick. I’m pretty sure from what Danny has told me you guys call it something different,” I say as I hug her. She curls tighter into my arms and nods.

“It’s real name is ectoplasm. Danny’s parents are so-called ecto-biologists, claiming to know everything but most of the things they say are not correct. As you can see we are sentient and sapient beings. They do get the basic science of it right, just not much more than that,” Danny said, not taking his eyes off of Jason.

“As for why I glow,” Danny shifted forms into his Phantom form still sitting on the bed. I hear Jason suck in a breath and look at Danny as if he’s looking at his own ghost.

“That’s not what I was expecting. Welp I’m hungry, got any food around here Timberella?” Jason said standing up and walking out of the bedroom. That went smoother than I was expecting. I see Danny looking confused at how smooth that went.

I go to stand up briefly forgetting I have Ellie in my arms until she squeaks in surprise. I adjust her in my arms and walk towards Danny and offer him my free hand. He grabs it and we stroll toward the kitchen just to see Jason rummaging through the fridge pulling out ingredients and rummaging through my cupboards and pulling out various bowls and kitchen utensils.

“Whatcha making J?” I ask and sit at the island watching Jason curiously.

“What is with you not calling me Hood? I am clearly Red Hood right now, so why are you not calling me by that name?” Jason asks as if he just realized I’m not calling him by his vigilante name.

“He knows,” is all I say.

“How the fuck does he know? Did you tell him? I swear to god if you told him replacement I will kill you,” Jason said, and started to round the island.

“Touch him and you won’t have to worry about your secret identity anymore,” Danny snapped, grabbing Jason's arm before he could grab me. Jason froze, clearly not expecting him to move that fast.

“I know all the bats, except Black Bat, because I can feel energy. Did he not tell you that I kidnapped him in his civilian identity?”
Jason blinked. “You can feel people? Dude, that’s creepy,” then continued, “You did what? And you’re still alive?” as if he just registered what I was saying.

“He kidnapped me in my civilian life, tied me to a chair and asked for my help to dismantle part of the government. How could I say no?” I said, laying my head on Ellie’s. She had fallen asleep in my arms at some point during the conversation.

“You have lost your mind Tim. How do you trust him?”

“I am wondering the same thing, all things considered you shouldn’t have trusted me as quickly as you did, so why did you?” Danny said, turning to face me but still having Jason in his range of sight. He had let go of Jason’s arm at some point and Jason just sat down on the other side of the table facing me.

“I can’t explain it. He hasn’t lied at all to me from our first meeting, sure he kept a few things from me but I don’t think it was intentional. When we first met I was going to write him off as another crazy person, but something in his voice stopped me and I couldn’t. And then he told me about the anti-ecto acts and when I saw what they were and how buried they were in another document I knew I had to help him,” I say as
I sit up again. “Can you make food now Jay? I’m starving.”

“Holy hell kid that’s wild. Yeah I’ll get you some actual food and not just caffeine you caffeinated freak,” Jason said as he started making something. I smile at him and start to rock Ellie back and forth in my arms.

I look over at Danny and smile a little as Jason whips up some pancake batter from the random assortment of ingredients he pulled out. He also made some eggs and something else that looked suspiciously like hot chocolate.

“Eat up,” he said, pushing plates of food toward all of us. I gently shake Ellie awake and point at the food, she nods but doesn’t leave my arms.

“So let me get this straight, you are kidnapped by a random person, tied to a chair, he then tells you he knows all of our secret identities and you decide ‘you know what yeah that one. I’m gonna keep that one’? You need a better sense of preservation replacement. Kudos to you though, I can see why you keep him around,” Jason said after a few short minutes of silence.

“He doesn’t know all of us. He still hasn’t met Black Bat in her civilian identity,” I say, flashing a small smile towards Jason then continuing, “It also wasn’t entirely like that, he needed help. The second time we saw each other he was covered in blood from his parents shooting him because they found out about his secret and he would have been handed over to these scum bags and none of us would be any wiser. Personally I’m happy with how it turned out.”

“Its only because she’s like a ninja that I can’t find her during the day. How am I supposed to match a mask to an unfamiliar energy?” Danny snarked. He was looking at the food like it committed personal atrocities and his glare would reveal them.

“What does that even mean? Match energies?” Jason asked, confused.

“Exactly what it sounds like. Ghosts are beings of energy and can recognize each other because of that. Speaking of which, when did you die? And how did you come back?” Danny asked, scanning him over like he was assessing something.

“How the fuck do you know I died? Tim, did you tell him?” Jason snapped his eyes starting to glow green. Before I could respond Ellie chirped at the same time Danny chirped. Jason looked between them as confused as I am.

“What the fuck? Are you guys birds? Why are you chirping?” Jason asked, now confused.

“It’s part of how they communicate,” I say before Danny or Ellie can. “It’s almost like they are putting emotions into chirps instead of words. It’s fascinating.”

Danny and Ellie look at each other then at me confused. At least I assume it’s confusion on their faces.

“That’s surprisingly accurate. How did you pick that up on the first day of hearing them? Not even my older sister knows what the chirps mean and she’s heard them for 2 years,” Danny said, still looking at me.

“I’m a fast learner,” I smirk at Danny as I look him up and down.

“Ew” “Gross” Jason and Ellie say at the same time, look at each other, and start laughing.
I smile softly at the sound and then start eating my food without comment. Danny looks at me and does the same. Ellie sobers up quickly as if realizing that she’s still mad at Jason or something.

“So what are your plans for the day, Timbers?” Jason asks after we all finish food. He then goes to take the dishes but is stopped when they start to levitate toward the sink.

“You really need to get me a list of all your powers at some point,” I whisper to Danny. He just sends me an evil smirk and stands up, gives me a soft kiss on the head, and walks towards the sink.

Ellie makes a chirp that almost makes me think she is confused or frustrated, I can’t tell. I look at her then to Jason who looks just as confused if not more, but it feels safe. This could be dangerous to get used to

As Danny finishes the dishes, clinking softly in the sink before stacking neatly on the counter. The sound fills the comfortable silence left behind by Jason’s grumbling and Ellie’s quiet chirps.

“I was thinking of taking them into town, or maybe going to Metropolis and meeting up with Clark and Lois for lunch. I also need to check in with how the article is coming along and how fast it can get published so we can plan a counter attack accordingly. Thoughts?” I say to Jason as I stand up. I try to set Ellie on the floor but she makes a displeased sound, so instead I shift her to my back and hold her in a piggy-back.

“I think you need to take a break and let other people hold some of the weight, but I know you so I think you should do the second option. Show Clark and Lois what they are doing to children, even if that child isn’t fully human,” Jason said, adding the second part under his breath. It wasn’t quiet enough as we could all hear what he said, but we all chose to ignore it.

“Sounds good. And hey I am taking a break. I’m not patrolling and I’ve taken a few days off work claiming sickness. I do have to stop by the manor at some point to pick up some things from my old room,” I say, speaking more to myself than anyone else.

I see Danny nod as if agreeing with my decision. I can see he wants to ask something but is holding off because of Jason.

“Ellie, sweetheart, can I give you to Danny so I can change into a different pair of clothes that aren’t covered in sweat?” I feel her nod against my shoulder and Danny walks up behind me pulling her off my back. I let go of her legs when I’m positive Danny has her full weight.

I went up to my bedroom and changed as fast as I could. I pull on some suit pants and a button up shirt. I think about styling my hair but decide against it as it’ll just get messed up as soon as we leave the apartment.

“Well, that’s not exactly what that means, but sure lets go with that,” I hear Danny say. What did I miss for the two minutes I was changing?

“What does it mean exactly? Because all I’m hearing is that you basically have magic and can do whatever you want. Is that not what it means you being the High Kind of another dimension?” Jason asks back. Oh they somehow got onto that topic.

“Jason, leave him alone. If he doesn’t want to answer specifically he doesn’t have to,” I say. I walk towards Danny and Ellie makes grabby hands for me. I go to grab her but Danny holds her tighter. I sit down next to them on the couch instead.

“But he says he’s the king of another dimension. We’ve never met someone who can do half the things he does so it’s a logical deduction,” he said, his inner batman coming out in his way of speaking.

“Leave it alone, don’t you have work to be doing oh so great crime lord? Why don’t you leave the investigating of people to B,” I say, flipping him off. He flips me off in return and goes back to the kitchen to grab his helmet. When he comes back I point towards the elevator that leads into the nest and he just nods and walks away.

“Thanks,” Danny said as soon as the elevator doors closed. I nod and lay my head on his shoulder. I sigh and close my eyes feeling that same sense of comfort and safety I always feel around Danny.

“Hey Danny,” he hums in acknowledgement. “What are we? I mean I know what I want us to be but don’t want to force anything on you.”

“Is it not clear that I have affection for you? You make me feel whole in a way no one else has. I love my older sister, I love Ellie, I love my best friends, but none of them make me feel the same peace of mind that being with you does. So I want to be yours in any way you’ll have me,” He said in the same soft voice I did.

“So if I asked you to be my boyfriend you would say yes?” I ask, sitting up and looking him in the eyes. He smiles and gives me a soft kiss. I smile into the kiss and pull away.

“Stop being gross,” Ellie said from Danny’s side, having crawled off his lap at some point. I smile and stick my tongue out at her. She does the same and I smile. I’m happy she feels safe enough to play around.

I give Danny a kiss on the cheek looking directly at her and then give him another and another. I kiss him until he’s giggling and hear Ellie join in.

“I will kiss my BOYFRIEND as much as I want to, thank you very much,” I smiled at her. She’s still giggling along with Danny and I pull her over and give her head a small kiss. She melts like she’s made of butter on a hot day. I hold her and turn to look at Danny again.

“Go get dressed then we’ll go. Do you want to portal, fly, or drive to Metropolis?” he stands up and walks toward the bedroom, I realize that I’ll have to buy them clothes and other things as they don’t really have anything.

When Danny walks back into the room he’s dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. I smile and stand up to meet him and Ellie starts squirming to be set down. I let her go when her feet hit the floor and she’s off like a lightning bolt. She starts exploring the living room and finds a sweatshirt I had left on a chair a few days ago.

She grabs it and puts it on. It looks like a dress on her because of how small she is, but she is adorable nonetheless.

“Let’s portal. We can portal to the top of the Daily Planet and call Clark to meet us up there. It would also be good for them to meet you when you aren’t being all kingly and shit,” I say as I watch Ellie run around the room. She seems like a regular human kid right now, but I know she isn’t.

“Sounds good to me,” Danny said and went after Ellie. She screeched with joy and ran away from him.

When he finally caught her we went down to the nest. I was thinking about changing into my Red Robin suit, but decided against it. We wanted to be discreet so being in vigilante gear makes that hard.

“You remember where to portal Danny? We could also portal to a nearby alley and walk to the Daily planet, less noticeable that way,” I said looking at him. He had Ellie’s hand in his own so she didn’t start to wander around and get lost in the nest.

“Yeah, smart idea. Just give me the coordinates and I can get us there in a jiffy.” I snorted at his choice of words and pulled up a map of Metropolis and pointed to a small alley close to the Daily Plant that would work for what we had planned.

“There,” is all I get to say before he opens a portal and pulls me through. Metropolis is as bright as it always is and I have to blink a few times before I’m able to see again.

“A little warning would have been nice,” I say as Danny smirks and holds out his other hand for me to take. I ignore it and grab Ellie’s other hand so we are basically protecting her from the world. She looks around with cautious eyes and then to the floor. She starts to shake a little.
I grip her hand tighter and say, “Don’t worry. Nothing will hurt you here. I promise that you are safe.”

She nods and squeezes my hand again. I hold on just a little tighter and start to walk towards the Daily Planet. I grab my phone and send a quick message to Clark to meet us in the lobby.

When we walk into the building I see Clark's large frame as he waves to us. I wave back, pick up Ellie and hand her to Danny. I can see him instantly calm down a little with her in his arms where he can fly away at the smallest sign of trouble.

“Hey Clark, I want you to meet Danny. He’s been helping me with some things and I thought it would be time for you two to meet,” I say gesturing toward the elevators. He understands and we start to walk towards the elevators.

“Nice to meet you Danny, I’ve heard a lot about you from Tim. I see we brought someone along today. What is your name sweetheart?” Clark asks Ellie. She shakes her head and buries her face in Danny’s shoulder, fingers gripping his shirt like she’s afraid the world might snatch her away again. I smile a bit at the adorable gesture and look towards Clark. Right as the elevator doors close I see Danny tense up again as if fighting the urge to fly away.

“Clark, you’ve already met Danny. He’s the one who brought the issue of the GIW to you a few days ago. How’s the article coming along?” I say and grab Danny’s hand and give it a tight squeeze.

“Oh so you’re the mysterious being who dropped that onto our plate. Well nice to meet you anyway. I see you got your daughter back. What do you need help with now? And the article is coming along slowly. It’s hard to find information about them without tipping them off. If there is any way Barbra can help with that it would be appreciated,” Clark says, then as if a lightbulb went off he asks, “Wait aren’t you a ghost? How are you able to change your appearance?”

“Oh I guess I didn’t explain myself last time. I’m only half ghost. I can switch between two forms, which doesn't help with fighting ghosts as they can feel energies, but it did keep me safe from my parents for a while,” Danny said as if he just realized it as well.

“What do you mean by that? ‘For a while’? Did they hurt you?” Clark asked, looking at Danny as if he were a hurt child instead of a ruler of
another dimension with an unknown amount of power.Granted, I don’t see Danny as a ruler—but I’ve seen sides of him no one else has.

“Let's get one thing straight, I’ve been a hero for longer than you. I have been the King of the Infinite Realms for about that long as well. I am not a child who needs protection. Don’t start a fight you aren’t sure you can win, Superman,” Danny said in a low voice.

Clark looked at me and I shook my head. He dug the hole now he has to find his way out.

“Sorry, that came out insensitive,” Clark said quickly, softening his tone. “I’m used to working with scared victims, not young heroes. I apologize for that. What I meant to ask is—how safe are you right now? Do we need to rush this investigation? Are you still living anywhere near your so-called parents?”

Danny looked taken aback. Like he wasn’t used to people apologizing or people admitting their own fault. I’ll have to work on that with him.

“No,” Danny said after a minute. “Not anymore. I would say I haven’t had a stable place to live in a few years. Not since I became what I am now.”

“That’s something at least. I will refrain from asking more questions until we are with Lois in her office. You should be more comfortable there,” Clark said, nodding.

Forty-eight tense seconds later, the elevator dinged open, revealing the bustling bullpen of the Daily Planet. Rows of desks filled the space, with a few glass-walled offices along the far side. Lois spotted us instantly and waved us over. I gave Ellie’s hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go and leading the way.

“You must be who Tim’s been talking about. Nice to see you again, Ph—” she caught herself smoothly as she saw Danny tense, her reporter’s instinct kicking in. “Sorry, your name again?”

“It’s no trouble. I’m Danny,” he said, voice softening. “And this is my starlight, Ellie. She’s finally back in my arms after a few weeks apart.” Lois blinked, clearly connecting the dots, before crouching down to meet Ellie’s eyes.

“Hey sweetheart. I’m happy to meet you. I heard you had a rough few weeks. Want to come into my office with your dad and talk about it, or would you prefer to talk somewhere else?” Lois asked gently. It’s obvious who is more used to talking to traumatized victims of crimes.
Lois stands and walks fully into her office and shuts the door. Danny relaxes slightly with the door between him and unknown people.

“I remember from our first meeting you mentioned something about how the GIW had your daughter. How recently did you get her back from them?” Clark asked after sitting down next to Lois’s desk.

“Clark, that’s not what we are here to talk about,” Lois reprimanded him, then she turned back to Danny, “I’m sorry for his rudeness. His heart is in the right place, but it’s not the correct time. I have looked into the GIW from a secure computer like you requested and I’ve got to say I’m disgusted with what our government has allowed to your people. I know it doesn’t mean much, but I apologize for what they have done to you.”

Danny looked taken aback by the genuine apology. “Thanks,” he said after an awkward few seconds.

“It should come from our government, but I digress. I would like to hear what they did to you under these laws. What specifics can you give?” Lois asks. I could see she was trying to be sensitive, but it was hard to broach such a sensitive topic.

“They cut me open. Moved things around. I remember the smell—blood blossoms on the tools. They kept my sternum open while they searched for my core. I don’t know what you learned from your search, but the core is the center of a whole ghost. If it’s crushed we fade into what we call final death,” Danny said as he held Ellie tighter. He was shaking slightly and I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him.
There was a few minutes of silence before Clark said“That’s horrible. I don’t know what to say. How about we move onto some lighter topics.

How is it possible that you have a daughter? I didn’t know ghosts were able to reproduce.”

“Oh ummm. I only call her my daughter because we share DNA, but she is technically my clone made by my evil godfather who wants to kill my dad and marry my mom. Well at least that's what was happening when I last saw him before I put him in space jail,” Danny said like he was talking about the weather not being cloned.

Clark blinked slowly, processing Danny’s explanation.

“I didn’t know ghosts could be cloned either,” Clark said carefully, then continued stupidly, “but traditionally clones don’t have the same legal status. They aren’t considered real people, they’re more like-”

“Clark.” Lois hissed, but it was too late.

Danny went perfectly still.

Not ghost-still. Not predatory-still.

Emotionally still. Like someone hit pause on a recording and the air itself froze with him. Ellie looked up at him nervously, flinching at the cold seeping from his buddy and tightening her grip on his shirt. I felt my stomach drop.

“‘Not considered real people?’” Danny repeated softly. Too softly. His voice was controlled in the way a blade is controlled when it’s being pressed to someone’s throat.

Clark's expression shifted as if realizing his mistake too late. “I did-din’t mean–”

“Oh I know perfectly well what you meant,” Danny said, no heat, no raised voice- just icy certainty, “you’re speaking from experience right? With your reaction Superman I would say you truly believe that clones don’t deserve the same rights as everyone else. Your experience does not dictate mine. You act like they asked to be brought into this world. That is the same as saying someone deserved to be raped for wearing something too revealing.”

Danny paused and shifted his gaze to meet Ellie's scared eyes before he continued, “with your reasoning I deserved to be experimented on because the government deems me as non-sentient and non-feeling.”
Clark swallowed but thankfully stayed quiet.

“Ellie is alive,” Danny continued after letting his previous statements sink in, “she feels emotions the same as any human child. She laughs, she cries, fuck she even screams that she hates me like a teenager at times. But that makes her real. That makes her deserving of the same love we give our own children. She. Is. Mine.—not because someone created her from my DNA, not because some scientist had a god complex—but because I chose her.”

He drew in a shaky breath, “Where she came from doesn’t matter to me. Because she is mine and I wouldn’t change that for anything. She is my starlight. She is the reason I didn’t declare war on the whole of the human race. Her love of exploring this earth, her love of the people she’s met, that’s the only reason your world was not up in flames the second she got kidnapped and experimented on.”
Ellie tucked her head under his chin, and Danny kissed the crown of her hair like he’d done it a thousand times. Lois stared at him with wide, wet eyes.

Clark looked… shattered. Like someone had held up a mirror to a part of him he hadn’t touched in years.

I reached over and put my hand on Danny’s knee. His muscles were trembling under my palm, but he leaned into the touch barely—enough for me to know he was grounding himself.

Clark cleared his throat, voice rough. “I’m sorry. That was… not fair of me. And not accurate. I let my own history cloud what I was trying to ask.” He folded his hands in his lap like he was afraid of them. “Ellie deserves the same rights as anyone. Thank you for correcting me.”
Danny didn’t answer at first. He just stared at Clark like he was trying to decide if the apology was real. Then, very quietly, he said, “Thank you.”

Not forgiving. But acknowledging. The room felt less brittle and the air softened to a breathable consistency.
Lois finally exhaled and straightened in her chair. “Alright,” she said, voice steady but gentle. “Let’s take a moment. Then when you’re ready, Danny… I’d like to talk about what protections Ellie needs going forward.”

Danny didn’t say anything, he just nodded, jaw still clenched, arms wrapped protectively around Ellie. Clark smartly remained silent.
Lois let the silence shift before she lowered her gaze to Ellie still wrapped around Danny. Danny held her just as tightly if not tighter. I would be worried about broken bones if I didn’t already know that it took more than a tight hug to break the bones they do have.

“Hey Ellie, mind if I ask you a few questions?” Lois started softly looking to Danny for permission. He nodded and Lois looked back at Ellie,

“What’s your favorite color?”
Ellie buried her head into Danny’s shoulder and mumbled something.

“Teal, she says her favorite color is teal,” Danny translated for her.

“Oh that's a great color, mine is blue because it reminds me of the blue sky over a field in summer,” Lois said, then continued, “what about
hobbies? What do you like to do? Read, explore, draw?”

“She says she likes to draw the places she sees. Her favorite thing to draw is the night sky over the different places she goes because it reminds her that there is more out there than down here,” Danny said after she again mumbled into his shirt. I could see Clark shift as if he was debating whether to speak or not, he thankfully didn’t.

“That sounds like you’ve been to a lot of places. One day I hope to be able to see your drawings if you are comfortable sharing them with me,” Lois replied, a smile gracing her face.

“She says she would enjoy being able to draw what the stars look like from other planets and solar systems,” Danny said, with a bit of pride in his voice.

Chapter Text

The interview went for another 30 minutes before both Lois and Clark had enough to write their article. They said it would take another day or so to get it all accepted, edited, and published. We left the building and walked down the street. I had Ellie in my arms and held Danny’s hand as we walked toward a nearby cafe.

“That could have gone worse,” I say after we ordered food. Danny looked dryly at me before he shrugged.

“‘That could have gone worse’ he says,” he mimicked “as if I didn’t tell off Clark for being a POS about clones. If you have a problem with them, keep it out of your professional life, especially if you are a reporter,” then slumped back into the booth.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You protected Ellie and others who had no say in their creation. I could introduce you and Ellie to my best friend who is also a clone when and if you ever feel up to it,” I say, trying to change the topic to something else.

“You have friends? Wow birdy I don’t know when you have time to do anything fun with both your day and night job,” Danny said, poking fun at me good heartingly.

“Rude. We also have to talk about our backstory for when you come with me to my fathers gala, that is if you are still willing to go. We can either take Ellie with us, which I don’t recommend, or we can have her stay with Jason if they are both comfortable with that, or we could leave her home by herself. I don’t feel comfortable with that last option because the risks far outweigh the benefits,” I say right as the waiter comes up to our table.

“Good morning gentlemen and little lady, what can I get started for you today?” she asks, then she scans us again and continues, “Oh hello Mr. Drake-Wayne. Would you like your usual? And who is this with you today?”
I look at her and try to pull her name from my brain, but come up empty. NOt entirely surprising but a little frustrating.

“Yes please and this is Danny, he’s my boyfriend, and this little sweetheart is Ellie. His daughter,” I say politely. The lady blinks a few times before a small smile graces her face.

“It’s nice to meet you both. I can recommend some things if you aren’t sure what to get here,” she said towards Danny. He looked over at me and I just smiled.

“I trust your judgement. I’ll take whatever you recommend and Ellie will have,” He pauses and looks at Ellie for a moment, “pancakes.”
As soon as he said pancakes her face lit up like a christmas tree. How does he know what she wants? Can they read each other’s minds or does he just know her that well?

“Right away. It will take a few minutes to get everything ready, but we will get it out ASAP for you. I can also bring some drinks for you, on the house of course,” she said, " I really should ask her name. I nod and look at Danny as he nods as well. She writes something down and walks away.

“Oh ma’am what is your name? It’s always nice to have a name for a beautiful face,” Danny calls after her looking directly at me smirking. Can he read my mind? That’s a scary thought and I push it away as soon as it enters.

“My name is Stephine,” she said over her shoulder.

Shit. How did they find out about Danny? And how did they know I would come to this exact cafe today?

“She reminds me of someone we know back in Gotham don’t you think Tim?” Danny asks with that same shit eating grin. He knew. God fucking dammit. He knew the second she walked up to us who she was, how I did not recognize my own ex-girlfriend I will never know.

I kick Danny softly under the table as he snickers. He grabbed his shit like I actually hurt him and laughingly said, “Ah yes my boyfriend who likes to kick me under the table.”

“Hey dad, why does your energy dance with Tim’s?” Ellie asked, looking between us squinting. Danny stiffened and directed his full attention to her.

“What do you mean starlight?” Danny asked softly.

“Your energy is dancing with Tim’s and twirling around him. It seems playful,” Ellie said as if that clarified anything.

“Ellie you couldn’t read energies before, hell you could barely read heat signatures. Why can you see them now?” Danny said carefully. It was at that moment I realized it wasn’t just fun anymore, it was something serious.

Ellie shrugged at his question and that’s when Steph made her appearance again, this time with food and drinks. I look at her and mouth ‘GIW. Protect.’ She nodded and left.

“I think it’s time to go Danny,” I said as I grabbed a to-go container and put our food into it. He nodded and grabbed another one to do the same to his and Ellies’ food. We were out the door and not a moment later were in my apartment in Gotham.

“What do you mean she couldn’t do that before? I thought it was a ghost ability,” I said once we landed in my apartment. My heart was still hammering from the way Danny had all but dragged us through the portal.

Danny set Ellie down on the couch, but his eyes never left her—wide, focused, almost frantic. “She shouldn’t be able to,” he said quietly. “Not like that. She’s always been sensitive to temperature shifts and basic ecto-fields, but seeing energy like that? Reading bonds?” He shook his head sharply. “No. Absolutely not.”

Ellie swung her legs, unaware of the panic tightening the room. “It’s not hard,” she said, blinking up at us. “Your energy looks like… like fireflies. They swirl together. They weren’t doing that before.”

I felt my breath catch. “Before what?”

She frowned, thinking. “Before the white rooms. Before the needles. Before the—” She stopped, eyes going distant the way they only did when trauma dragged her backwards. Danny was instantly kneeling in front of her, cupping her face gently.

“Hey, starlight. It’s okay. You don’t have to remember all that right now,” he murmured. His voice trembled slightly, and something in my chest
twisted. He brushed her hair back, smoothing her bangs. “Just tell me one thing. When did the colors start?”

Ellie tapped her chin. “After the big machine exploded. When it hurt.” She said it so simply, like she didn’t realize the weight of her words.
Danny went still. Not the frozen, emotionless stillness from earlier—this was the stillness of someone realizing a nightmare hadn’t ended, only changed shape.

“They altered her,” Danny whispered, mostly to himself. “They didn’t just test her—they changed her. Her core might be developing abilities it shouldn’t have yet. Or ever.”

The cold in the room dropped a few degrees. His hands curled into fists, but he didn’t move. Didn’t lash out. Just breathed, hard and uneven. I stepped closer and put a hand on his back.

“Danny. Look at me.” He didn’t, but he didn’t pull away either. “Is she in danger?” I asked.

“No,” he said immediately—too immediately. Then, softer, “I don’t think so. Not physically. But if she’s suddenly manifesting higher-level perception abilities without training, without stability…” He exhaled shakily. “She could overload. Or misread something. Or accidentally link to energy she shouldn’t.”

“So what do we do?” I asked, keeping my voice steady even though every hair on my arms was standing on end.

“We watch her. We keep her calm. No more overstimulation. No more crowds.” He dragged a hand through his hair, pacing. “I need to call Frostbite. And maybe Clockwork. And definitely not let her anywhere near any more humans with unpredictable energy signatures.”
Ellie perked up. “But Tim’s not unpredictable. His energy is like yours.”

I froze. Danny froze harder.

Can she feel that we’ve had sex? Or is there another reason that our energies are similar?

“What does she mean that my energy is like yours? Does this mean I’m part ghost as well or what?” I ask, feeling like I’m wheezing it through
my teeth.

“NO,” Danny snaps at me, before repeating it, “no. You are not part ghost. I honestly don’t know what you are, but I don’t think you are fully human. I don’t know if you were ever really fully human.”

“Not fully human? I’ve had my blood tested. I don’t have the meta gene and my blood didn’t test positive for anything besides human DNA. Could it be something else?” I ask.

“I mean there is always the possibility that your soul was sold to someone but that wouldn’t make any sense. I would be able to feel that. We’re getting off topic. Ellie, sweetie, what exactly do you see when you look at our energies?” Danny said after he thought for a moment.

“I see your soft blues dancing with his deep reds. They don’t really connect more like fade into each other at some points, like your mixing colors. There are hints of a deep teal in some places that seem to spiral inwards but never disappear. But there are also just some places where there’s nothing. Not white or any color, just nothing like a void, but it seems to pulse. It’s constantly moving and shifting the more you two interact with each other,” Ellie said, as if it were obvious.

“Ellie starlight, you shouldn’t be able to see that. It’s an ability that only really old ghosts have. I’ve only met two ghosts who can see energies like that and it drove both crazy,” Danny said. He was shifting uncomfortably in the spot he was standing.

I look around my apartment and spot a green sticky note on my fridge that wasn’t there when we left. I walk over to it and it just says ‘GIW raid 19:37’. I walk back to Danny as he is still silently freaking out and hand him the note.

“Fucking Clockwork,” is all he says before he passes out.

Chapter Text

I float in the realms soft embrace and just float around for an unknown amount of time before I feel the realms shift. Something happened. I don’t know what but It’s big, and not something I had anything to do with this time.

“Hello young King,” I hear CW say from all around me and in my head at the same time.

“Get your creepy ass out here and actually have a normal conversation with me for once,” I say to the infinite but small eternity of space in front of me. He fades into existence and smiles like he knows the end to a really funny joke that no one else knows.

“What did the GIW do to my daughter?” I ask snippily.

“What was, is stable. What comes next is not,” he said. I see the timeline behind him starting to fracture and bend in unnatural ways.

“Why can you never give a straight answer? And why is the timeline looking like that?” I ask stupidly, hoping for any answer that he gives to make sense to me.

“You have a choice coming up that I cannot make for you. Choose the wrong path that makes everything right… or the right path that breaks what must not break.” he said, and just like that it was like ice flooded my body and I woke up on earth again with Tim standing over me.

Chapter Text

He was out for not even a minute before he shot awake, like someone poured ice water over him. He was gasping for breath and seemed far away.

“Choose the right for the wrong or choose the wrong for the right. What does that mean?” he grumbled to himself, still seeming to be in his own world.

“Danny, what happened?” my voice cracks despite my best effort.

“Clockwork,” Danny whispers, like the word itself has fangs. Like saying it too loud might summon something. I wait for him to continue and he just sits there still staring at the same space at the wall and not moving or blinking.

“I know you think that explains things but it doesn’t. Who is Clockwork and do we have to fight him? I’ll go get my gear,” I rush out all in a single breath. As I go to stand he grabs my arm and stops me. He pulls me into him and just holds on. I look over to Ellie to see if she has any idea what was going on to see the same far away look in her eyes.

“Danny, I need to know what you need, how can I help?” I ask petting his hair. He just leans into my neck and just breathes in my scent calming himself down from whatever happened.

Before I’m ready an alarm goes off from my tablet. I wiggle out of Danny’s hold to check what it is. I hope to whatever god’s there are that it’s
not a mass breakout from Gotham Asylum.

GIW EARLY WARNING SYSTEM. ENERGY SPIKE IN GOTHAM. CONVERGE ON CONFIRMED SIGHTING OF 0-9-1.

Shit. SHIT! What do we do? How do we fix this oncoming problem and get to the gala that Bruce is holding tomorrow.

“Danny, Ellie, we need to go to the manor. It’s the safest place in Gotham and I just got an alert from the GIW’s database about a sighting of you, Danny, in Gotham. I don’t know how close the sighting was to here, but we need to leave,” I said as I walked to the bedroom to pack some clothes and some gear before deciding to send a message to Jason.

It was a simple message “GIW sighting in Gotham. Get to manor. NOW!”

Hoping to all hell he would listen and not try to fight them on his own. We need the backing of the Justice League and the government before we can take action against them.

“Danny, I'm going to give you coordinates. Can you portal us there?” I ask him, he concentrates before he shakes his head. Double shit. Guess we’re getting there the old fashion way.

We head down to the nest and hop into one of the cars I own. I grab my Red Robin suit and some additional weapons and hop into the driver's seat. I wait until Ellie is buckled and Danny is sitting in the passenger seat before I hit the gas and speed out of the secret entrance to the nest.
I head toward the manor before I spot a white van following me.

“Fuck,” I mumble under my breath. “Ok I need to call the whole family so I need you guys to stay quiet. We will be talking in code. Danny I need you to try your hardest to open a portal to anywhere else, preferably in Gotham but I’m not picky right now.”

The car phone rang exactly once before Oracle answered.

“O. I’ve got heat. Carrying a live-tier item. Cannot let it slip. I need a sweep team now.” I spoke in a hushed but rushed tone. Danny looked taken aback by the sudden edge in my voice when I slipped into bat mode.

“Copy. Red Hood is closest and can be there in two. Head toward safety in Crime Alley and then head back to base,” Oracle said curtly in my ear before a beep sounded and I heard Jason on the call.

“RR what’s the situation? Why do you, of all people, need backup?” Jason grumbled in his deep red hood voice. I could see Ellie tense in the backseat and Danny holding her hand, either to ground himself or her I couldn’t tell.

“GIW, I have cargo that they want that I will not give up. I need backup to keep it safe,” I snap back and drive into the Alley as Hood pulls up beside me on his bike.

“10-4,” he said, slowing down so he was trailing behind me. I see him jump off his bike before I hear the thud of him landing on the roof of my car and the tall tell sounds of gunfire. Ellie almost screams but Danny goes intangible and is in the backseat with his hand over her mouth in an instant, dragging her into a bone crushing hug.

“Red we need to get them out of here, they’re more important than I am at this point in time. I can lead them on a wild goose chase easier on foot than on top of your car,” Jason said as he emptied another magazine in the general direction of the GIW vans.

“No,” Phantom said, Danny shifting into his other form, “I will not let another one of my subjects suffer for me. It ends now.”
Before I can blink, he phases through the door, takes to the air, and hurls a barrage of ecto-fire down the alley—flying away from us instead of toward safety.

“DANNY!” Both Ellie and I scream as he disappears into the buildings weaving and dodging blasts from the Ecto guns the GIW were carrying. I look back at Ellie and see she is trying to not shift into her ghost form. I slam on the breaks, throw the car into park and throw myself into the backseat to hug her.

“RR! What the absolute FUCK was that?” Jason snaps.

Reactively I push Ellie behind me and grab for the weapons I have on my belt. I don’t say anything, just stare at him, water starting to make its way to my eyes.

“He said he wouldn’t let one of his subjects suffer for him. I don’t know what to do, but I know we need to get her out of here. Get to home
base and we can re-evaluate there,” He nods and hops into the driver's seat and we take off again.

I try to discreetly try to wipe the tears from my eyes when Ellie looks at me with so much pain in her eyes that I pull her into her second bone cruising hug in the last 5 minutes. She silently sobs into my shoulder and I just hold her as she shakes.

We just got her back and Danny being the idiot he is decided he would rather suffer unknown torture before he allows her to do so again. We made it back to the cave in record time and for the second time today my car was thrown into park. Jason steps out of the car and opens the door to the backseat. I slid out with Ellie in my arms, not releasing my hold on her for a second.

“I need to go back for him,” I try to say but Ellie tightens her grip on me. I look down at her and she has fresh tears in her eyes.

“You can’t leave me too,” she whispers. I look at Jason as he shrugs and then pull my eyes back to look at her.

“I won’t leave you starlight. How could I leave you with strangers?” I whisper back, I know that she does not want me to get hurt and her having to be all alone in an unknown environment again, but all I want to do is go and save the person who was brave enough to kidnap me as a civilian to rescue his daughter.

“She’s right, you are emotionally compromised, you can’t leave the cave. You brought an unknown being into the cave and expect us to know what she needs?” I hear Bruce say from behind me in his full Batman attire.

“Like you have any room to talk, old man,” Jason said. I ignore them as they bicker back and forth with each other to focus on Ellie who is starting to shake again.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I ask, her big blue eyes find mine and suddenly colors bloom all around me. I see reds, and blues bashing against each other, while a soft pink tries to seem invisible. I see a yellow come in before Signal is trying to calm both Bruce and Jason down.

I look down at Ellie and see her soft teal fading to an almost sick green. She looks like she is about to pass out.

“Everyone shut up. Bruce, you’re going after Danny—you’re the only one who can help him, don’t argue. Duke, you’re with him; your aura sight will matter. Jason, you’re with me—we’re getting the kid settled. She just lost her dad, again, and she doesn’t need our dysfunction. Yes, she’s a ghost. Yes, they’re real. No, I don’t care if you don’t believe me—grow up. And she already knows who you are. Clear?” I snap at them. Bruce looks like he wants to argue but I glare at him and he shuts up.

“Understood,” he said after a tense moment of silence. He was also gritting his teeth as he said it.

Once Bruce showed he agreed, in a sense, Jason and Duke jumped into action. Duke was ready in record time and was out of the changing room in less than 2 minutes. Jason was standing by me with his arms crossed looking annoyed as all hell.

Signal and Batman hop into the bat-mobile and are off like a bullet. Jay is still standing by my side and goes to reach out but stops his actions mid-air.

“What do you need Ellie?” I ask as quietly as I can, while still being audible. She’s still shaking like a leaf, though it’s slightly lessened when Bruce and Duke left. I start to walk toward the medbay but stop thinking it might trigger a bad reaction from her. I redirect myself to the sitting area of the cave and collapse onto one of the couches.

“Are you hungry baby bat?” Jay asks, looking like he wants to be anywhere else. I nod and loosen my hold on Ellie the smallest amount. She shifts into a more comfortable position and looks at Jason.

“Why do you glow toxic green and red?” She asks, in barely a whisper.

“Well, just like your dad I guess I’ve come into contact with something not meant for humans. We call it Lazarus Water, but if you are a ghost I
guess it would be ectoplasm,” he said, squatting down to be eye level with her. She looks around him then reaches out. He goes to pick her up, but she flinches away, and he drops his hands.

“What exactly do you see sweetheart?” I ask, rubbing small circles on her back. She looks up from my neck and examines him again, closer this time.

“He looks like you a bit, I see a blood red being almost drowned by a toxic green. There are flickers of your red, a blue- not dad’s blue like a darker blue, a yellow, purple, a black- not like a void black like a night black, and a few other colors. They all seem to float around each other but the blood red and the night black seem to fight, same with your red and his. But also anytime they fight there’s the toxic green fighting for dominance,” She said, almost in a trance like she has no control over what she says when she’s looking at auras.

“Shit,” I say, and start to feel nauseous. I look over at Jason as he shoves a trashcan under my head as I throw up all that's in my stomach and pass out hearing shouts of my name and Ellie’s almost scream.

Chapter Text

“He looks like you a bit, I see a blood red being almost drowned by a toxic green. There are flickers of your red, a blue- not dad’s blue like a darker blue, a yellow, purple, a black- not like a void black like a night black, and a few other colors. They all seem to float around each other but the blood red and the night black seem to fight, same with your red and his. But also anytime they fight there’s the toxic green fighting for dominance,” I say. The words seem to come out even, though that’s not how I feel.

“Shit,” I hear Tim say and as soon as he says that Jason shoves a trashcan under his head. Tim throws up and then he tilts back.
The noise hits first—Jason shouting, my own heartbeat ripping through my ears.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?” I scream at Jason. He looks between Tim’s unconscious form and my wide eyes. He puts his arms up and without thinking I jump into them, looking for any kind of comfort. He wraps his arms around me and I just cry,

“It’ll be ok Ellie, I can call Alfred and we can get Tim to the Medbay. He probably just overworked his system and his body shut down. It happens all the time, he just needs some rest and some food,” Jason said into my hair. I nodded and continued to hold him in a death grip.
I feel Jason shift my weight so he can stand, he also grabs his phone and texts someone before putting it away.

“He’ll be ok, Tim forgets to eat for 16 hours then passes out. It’s normal for him,” he’s lying. Before I can tell him as much I hear soft footsteps echo down the metal walkway unhurried, steady, like one who has years of practice being calm in the face of danger.
I see his soft golden aura before I see him. “Master Jason, I couldn’t decipher your text all the way just that I needed to come down. What seems to be the– oh hello little one, what’s your name?” The new person starts and then suddenly stops when he sees me in Jason’s arms.

“Her name is Ellie. Her dad was just captured by the GIW so they wouldn’t get me or her. That’s not what we called you down here for,” Jason said, then pointed to the passed out body of Tim on the couch, “He just threw up and then passed out. Something is wrong.”

The man nodded and then slowly moved his hand to Tim’s head, and then pulled it back almost sharply.

“He’s burning up. Quick, we need to get him to the medbay,” he said and picked Tim up like he weighed nothing and brought him to a white room.

White.

Blinding white.

The same white as the GIW lights.

Suddenly I’m back there—green blood sliding down my arms, the screams echoing, the tearing, the burning. My chest tightens, my lungs seize.
“Princess.”

A voice, warm and firm, cuts through the terror.

“You’re not there anymore. Come back to me. I’ve got you. Breathe with me. Close your eyes and listen to my heartbeat. Match me.”
I cling to the heat around me and focus—
one breath,
then another,
syncing with the steady rhythm under my ear.

When the panic loosens its grip, my eyes snap open. Jason is looking at me, worry etched into every line of his aura, a new color curling at the edges—faint but present.

“That’s it,” he murmurs. “Just keep breathing. You’re safe.”

“We won’t be safe until those laws are gone,” I whisper into his shirt.
His aura flickers green at the words before settling again.

A groan sounds from the bed.

I bolt up, right out of Jason’s arms and scramble onto the mattress beside Tim. His eyelids flutter. His hands twitch. I curl into him, tucking myself under his loose arm before he’s fully conscious. His fingers instinctively try to close around me, like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.

“Hey, starlight,” Tim whispers, voice still rough. “Sorry for scaring you with that little fainting act.”

“You can’t leave me,” I breathe into his shirt. “Not so soon after Dad left me.”

His arms tighten around me instantly, and I feel him shake just a little. I don’t know why.

Jason clears his throat loudly. “Cute. Now can you tell me what the FUCK that was, Replacement? You haven’t passed out like that in two years. I thought you were taking better care of yourself.”

Tim doesn’t lift his head from my hair. “I am taking better care of myself. I’m just… not used to seeing auras like Ellie does. She accidentally shared her ability with me. I guess my brain got overwhelmed and needed to reboot.”

“I SHARED MY ABILITY WITH YOU? ARE YOU OKAY? I’M SO SORRY!” The words blast out of me. Tim winces at the volume.

“I’m okay now, Ellie,” he says gently, opening his arms again. I crashed into him, crying even harder.

Chapter Text

As expected, as soon as I open my arms Ellie crashes into them and sobs. Now that my brain has mostly adjusted to the Aura reading, it’s not as overwhelming. I hug her close to my chest and look around the room.

I see what Ellie was talking about with Jason’s aura being kinda all over the place in terms of color. I also see a new color in the corner of the room. When I look over I see Alfred and he is surrounded in a light golden color like a candle’s flame in a dark room. Soft but still bright enough to give light to a place.

“Hey Alfred,” I say when I notice he notices me looking at him, “I’m fine can I get out of this bed and go get some food?”

He grabs a small tray of food off the counter and walks over to me. He hands me it and then silently goes back to the corner as if to observe the whole interaction and act based on what he sees. Or maybe I’m over analizing, like always, and reading too much into nothing.

“Thanks,” I say to our sudo grandfather and then turn to Ellie, “Hey Ellie, would you like something to eat?”

She nods into my shoulder and moves so she can grab blindly at the tray of food. She grabs some fruit and shoves it into her mouth, getting some of the juice onto my shirt in the process.

I grab some fruit as well and a granola bar and go about eating my own food. I see Jason still silently observing us, but not saying anything, just looking at us like a confused dog, without the head tilting side to side.

I beckon him over and hand him some food as well. He silently accepts it and then goes back to sitting on one of the chairs in the medbay.

“If that is all young masters and madam I will be off. This place is about to be really busy and I need to prepare food,” Alfred said, startling me a bit at his sudden voice, “I trust you will be up eventually to correctly introduce me to this beautiful young lady.”
I see Ellie blush at being called beautiful by someone who doesn’t know her. I smile and hope she never loses that view on herself, or I guess I hope she gets it back.

“So are you going to answer her question, Timmerella?” Jason asks as soon as the door to the medbay closes. I look at him confused before it hits me. Ellie asked if I’m ok after she shared her ability with me. I take account of how my brain feels before I look at her.

“Yes you shared your ability with me, I don’t think you meant to, but I’m ok. Maybe when everything calms down we should train this ability of yours,” I say softly. She nods and goes back to silently eating her fruit.

Before I can say anything else I hear the engine of a motorcycle in the cave. I really don’t want to deal with anyone else right now. I just passed out because my maybe boyfriend's daughter accidentally gave me part of her ability to see auras.

“I’ll deal with whoever it is,” Jason said, standing up from his chair and walking towards the door. Before he can leave Ellie jumps from my bed onto him and starts to shake again.

“NO!” Ellie screams.

Shit. Of course. She’s terrified someone else is going to vanish—just like her dad.

“Hello?” I hear from out in the main area of the cave. It sounds like Dick, but I am unsure if the GIW are able to change their voices with a device.

I hear footsteps coming toward the medbay and go to stand up, but fail miserably. I see Jason Reach for his gun that is still holstered at his hip and aim it at the door. He still has Ellie clinging to his back so it looks a bit awkward.

“Who are you?” Jason says in a gruff voice before the person enters the medbay.

“What do you mean who am I? I’m your brother,” Dick says, sounding confused.

“Prove it,” Jason gruffs, shifting Ellie’s weight so he has better aim.

“Code 87125-HFQ” Dick says confidently. Jason lowers his gun and opens the door.

“Well good to see you got here unharmed dickface,” Jason said, putting his gun back in the holster.

“Want to tell me what made you think the batcave got compromised to the point I needed to prove my identity?” Dick asks—then freezes. “Why do you have a little girl attached to your back? And why is Tim in a bed?”

“First of all,” Jason says, affronted, “I have an absolute princess attached to my back, excuse you. Second, Tim passed out after throwing up everything he’s eaten since Tuesday. And third—this princess’s dad just got snatched by the GIW, who are apparently on a crusade to wipe out ghosts. We don’t know the full extent of their capabilities because the one person who could tell us is the one who got taken.”

“That seems like a lot to happen in less than a week since we last talked,” Dick said, stunned. He sat on a chair and put his head in his hands. We sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “OK so what's the current plan, and how can I help?”

“First you need to get out of your uniform and take a shower, you reek,” I said, the continued, “once you do that I will hopefully be able to move my legs and I can help O hack into the GIW’s database and find out where they are keeping Phantom.”

Dick lifted his arm, smelled himself and cringed before he headed to the showers. A few minutes later I was up walking toward the bat computer when Dick finally came out of the dressing room in civvies. He sat in the chair adjacent to the computer as I pulled up the main chair and clicked open the comm lines for Barbra.

“Barbra, how fast can you send me everything you have done so far to hack the GIW?” I said, purposely using her name to tell her how urgent it was. In less than a minute I had a full list of what she has tried so far and got to work.

I look through it and start trying to decode all the ever-changing code. It’s almost as if it’s alive.

“TECHNUS!” Ellie shouts and suddenly the code just stops moving and shifts to look like the face of another ghost.

“Little phantom, what are you doing with these people? Last I heard the GIW still had you locked up,” the speaker said in a heavily modulated voice.

“I was rescued by Tim and Dad. Why are you working with the GIW?” She said accusingly. I almost jumped at the ice in her voice and how cold it suddenly got in the room. I look around and see that Jason and Dick are not fairing much better at the sudden temperature drop.

“Believe me it’s not willingly. They threatened to hurt you if I didn’t comply and by their records you are still in containment. I was trying to protect you young princess,” Technus said in the same modulated voice.

“Well as you can see I’m safe, but Dad isn’t. He sacrificed himself to keep me safe because the last time they had me they almost ended me,” Ellie said softly and crawled into my lap. I wrapped my arms protectively around her.

“King Phantom is in their clutches? There is nothing about it in their system,” He said then stopped, “Who are you with young princess?”

“I’m with Tim, Jason, and someone named Dick. Who would name their child that?” She whispered the last part, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. I shoot Dick a look to shut him up as he’s almost doubled over in silent laughter.

“Who is Tim? You’ve said his name twice and I still don’t know who that is. Is he safe?” Before Ellie could answer the pixels started warping like melting metal, then stretched outward into a translucent hand clawing into our dimension.

“Stop,” Ellie was now standing between the hand and me with her arms spread out.

“This is the man my dad, your King, is courting,” that's one way to describe my relationship with Danny.

“Hold up. Pause. Rewind. What do you mean courting? Someone is dating Tim? Like for real?” Dick asked, putting his hands into a timeout position. I rolled my eyes and turned my chair to face him, knowing Ellie had my back against the ghost coming through the screen. Yeah I’ll deal with that bit of knowledge later.

“I did tell you I was bringing a date to the next gala Bruce was hosting. I may have forgotten to mention who it was, but you still knew I was bringing someone,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back in my chair.

“Forgot to mention? YOU ARE DATING ROYALTY! That’s not something you casually forget to mention. How did you even meet him if he’s from another dimension?” then shouted again, “DID YOU SUMMON A BOYFRIEND FROM A DIFFERENT DIMENSION?”

“OK, rude, you don’t need to shout at me. I am five feet away from you. And no I didn’t summon a boyfriend, why is that your first thought when we are dealing with people from our dimension hurting them. Shouldn’t it be how do these people know about the Infinite Realms?” I said, rubbing my ear like he yelled directly into it.

“Dickface, we have bigger problems at hand than Timbo’s dating life. Like, I don’t know the literal war crimes that these so-called government agents are doing to the King of these Infinite Realms,” Jason planted himself between us like a grumpy bouncer tired of babysitting all of Gotham.

“Fine but we will be discussing this later Tim,” Dick said, the refocused his attention behind me.

I turn around and see Ellie glancing at us curiously and I almost cringe at what she is able to read from our Auras. I look around and focus on the auras and see them mixing around each other like a playful dance. Blues, reds, yellows, and some toxic green being smothered.

“You guys are fun,” Ellie said, then pointed at the ghost who is now fully out of the computer and just sitting in the air, like what Danny does when he wants to seem aloof and carefree. I’m starting to think Technes is copying Danny, but don’t know him well enough to make a concrete observation.

“Well princess, what are you doing with the bats of this horrid city? I get that they saved you, but you are a free spirit and like to travel, what’s keeping you here?” Technes asked when things were getting uncomfortably silent.

“Dad was captured trying to stop them from getting me, I can’t just up and leave. I also think I’m ready to maybe settle down in one place, but want to talk with dad about this first,” she said, putting her hand to her chin in a thinking position.

Before I can reply I hear the bat-mobile pull into the cave. I reach to instinctively push Ellie behind me, but Technes beats me to it. He’s also baring his teeth like a rabid dog. I see Jason pull his guns out as well to aim them at the car.

“Who are you?” Dick asks, balling his hands into fists and gets into a fighting position.

“Geeze you don’t recognize your own father? I’m hurt Dick,” the not Batman says. He then pulls off his mask to reveal Bruce, but something is off. I signal Jason to fire a warning shot, it whizzes past the intruder’s head.

“Nice try, but no you aren’t. What’s your code?” Jason asks, still having his gun aimed at their head.

“87125-HFQ” the intruder speaks confidently. Jason lowers his gun and shoots them in the knee. I grab Ellie from Behind Technes and run to the emergency bunker for if we were ever invaded by unknowns. I see Technes try to follow but is stopped by a shot from the gun the intruder has.

“He has GIW tech,” I shout and grab Technes as well, hoping to keep them both safe. My boots slip on the concrete as I yank Ellie and Technus forward, heart punching my ribs.

I hear more fighting from behind me but I keep pulling them toward the saferoom. Once we get there I push them in and then enter before I slam the door shut behind me. I’m a bit out of breath from the sheer panic of the event, and try to control my breathing.

“What are you doing mortal?” the ghost asked. He seems confused as to why I pulled him into this room along with Ellie.

“I’m trying to keep you safe. You may not care about anything, but my whole job is to keep people safe. I understand that my government has done a great deal of harm to you and your friends, but I am not my government. I fight for the equality of all beings. That’s what I’m doing,” I said confidently.

Chapter Text

“Red we need to get them out of here, they’re more important than I am at this point in time. I can lead them on a wild goose chase easier on foot than on top of your car,” Jason said. I hear him empty another magazine.

“No,” I say with more conviction than I feel. “I will not let another one of my subjects suffer for me. It ends now.”

I transform into my ghost form and fly out of the car. I hear Tim and Ellie scream my name, but I ignore it and fly in the opposite direction of where they are headed. I fly through buildings intangibly and weave in and out of different streets to try to confuse the tail I have for about thirty minutes.

Was this the choice that CW was talking about? I hope I made the correct choice. Before I can think anything else the GIW gets a shot and hits me in the side. I cringe but keep flying.

I get about halfway through flying the city when I hear another car pull up behind me. I dare to glance back, it's a completely black car and then the tires of the GIW van blow out. I momentarily slow down and the black car pulls up beside me. I look over and see the Batman looking at me all confused. I don’t care how he looks at me as long as my daughter and Tim are safe.

“Are you Phantom?” I hear from the passenger seat. I look over and it’s Signal. Well I hope he’s not blinded by my presence.

I nod and then feel the adrenaline start to fade from my system and then feel my body shift forms and hit the ground. I hear a shout and then suddenly it fades to black.

When I next wake up I am on something soft and warm. The more awake I feel the more I realize it’s a person who I’m laying on. Maybe the whole thing was a dream and I’m still with Tim and the GIW didn’t find me. The person shakes me a little and I wake up a bit more.

“Phantom? Would you mind getting off me?” definitely not Tim says. I shoot up off his chest and across the room before my mind catches up to my body’s movement. When it does I feel my stomach start to do little flips inside and I put my hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up.

Again.

“Who are you?” I ask as my eyes have still not adjusted properly. I see the outline of a person who seems to be wearing a type of armour that's yellow.

“I’m Signal, or you probably know me as Duke. Tim sent us,” Duke said. I look around me properly and see Batman, or Bruce I guess, driving the car we are in. I feel his gaze on and off me through the rear-view mirror.

“Where is he?” I ask, my mouth suddenly going dry. Duke holds up a bottle of water. I take it and look at it suspiciously. “How do I know you aren't going to poison me with this?”

“Dude, we just picked you up off the floor after you passed out and we are currently heading back to a safe place. Hopefully that would be enough, but I can take a drink if it makes you feel better,” Duke offered, and held his hand out for the bottle back.
I handed it to him. He takes the cap off, takes a few slow sips, then hands it back. When he doesn’t seem to have side effects I gulp the rest of the liquid down.

“Where’s my daughter? Is she still with Tim?” I asked, after I finished the bottle. Duke hands me another one and I don’t even think and down that one as well. Whatever the GIW hit me with affected my system in a different way than what they used to be able to do.

“She’s still with Tim, at least when he ordered us to come find you she was still with him. It’s been almost an hour since you passed out dude.
Are YOU ok? We caught up to you and suddenly you passed out,” Duke said as I finished my second bottle of water. I looked at him as if he had grown two heads.

“An hour? Why are we not back with Tim if it’s been an hour? Why are you keeping me away from them? Are you working for the GIW and I was wrong to trust Tim with my child?” I scramble out questions rapid fire, at the last one I back away from them and look for an escape route that won’t have me going into ghost form.

“We aren’t back with them because someone has infiltrated the Cave and until that’s dealt with we are locked out,” Bruce said from the front seat.

“And to answer your last question, no, we aren’t working for those dumbasses in white. We live in Gotham and don’t like when outsiders crash into our home and expect respect just because they flash a badge,” Duke said after it was clear that Bruce was done talking.

“Someone infiltrated the Cave? I thought it was the most secure place in all of Gotham. That’s why Tim wanted us to go there,” I said. If someone infiltrated the cave that’s even more reason for me to get there ASAP. I need to have Ellie back in my arms. I can’t lose her again.

“That’s what we are trying to figure out, but all the cameras in the cave aren’t working and even O is locked out. We have another 5 minutes before we are back in the general vicinity and can override the system automatically,” Duke responded, putting his hand on my shoulder to keep me grounded.

I realized I was starting to hyperventilate because of my own panic. I need to calm down. If the bats aren’t worried, I shouldn’t be worried.
Waiting 5 minutes to get to the place where we can manually override the system is torture. I want to know if they are safe. I shouldn’t have left them unprotected.

“Phantom, how good are you at fighting in your human form?” Bruce asks suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I’ve been a solo vigilante for almost half my life, and most of those fights were against humans who wanted to dissect me. I can fight,” I say, almost wishing I hadn’t. He doesn’t need to know. I should have just said yes and left it there.

“Good. The code for the safety bunker is 1006-318-221,” Batman, as he is now in full Batman mode, said without explaining further. Before I can question it he opens the latch after deactivating something and drops in.

I look toward where Duke was and don’t see him anymore. I steel my nerves and jump down after Batman. I land softly and see Bruce ahead of me pointing down a different hallway. I understand and quietly make my way towards there.

I hear shots from somewhere deep in the cave, but ignore them as I follow the path that Bruce pointed down. I reach for my connections with Ellie and Tim to help lead the way.

When I reach what I assume is the bunker I see a keypad by the door. I look around me and type in the code. The keypad lights up green and unlocks. I reach for the handle to open it when I’m suddenly stopped by something.

I have a blade to my throat from behind me. I slowly look up and put my hands out. Before the other person can think I drop quickly and drop them to the ground. I kick the knife away from them as they go to grab it. I land on them and push them to lay flat with my whole body weight.

“Who are you?” I snarl. The person under me suddenly stopped struggling and turned their head to the right. I look at their eyes and recognize they aren’t covered by those douchebag sunglasses. Their eyes are blue. Not as blue as Tim’s, but blue non-the-less.

“I’m one of Tim’s brothers,” the person said quietly.

“And if I don’t believe you?” I say, even though I already know by now that this is Nightwing, or Dick Grayson.

“How do you expect me to prove it?” Dick said, a bit exasperated.

“Tell me something about Tim that only you would know,” I say, still holding him down flat on the ground.

“He used to stalk us on the rooftops, Bruce didn’t know but I knew he was there. I tried to show off for him just a little bit as I wasn’t used to not having to put on a show, and putting one on for him made me feel closer to my family,” Dick said, sounding defeated.

I hear a snort from behind me and quickly spin with a punch at the ready, but stop as I see my baby safe. I jump off Dick using him as a springboard to launch myself at Ellie.

“Oh my sweet baby,” I breathe into her hair. I hug her tight to my chest as I feel her start to sob into it. I never want to let her go again. I look up again and see Tim. I pull him into the hug as well and we are now squishing Ellie from both sides.

I hear footsteps behind me — heavy, familiar — and I shove Ellie behind me without thinking. I see Jason looking between me and Dick laying on the floor groaning.

“Did you just take golden boy down in less than a minute? Holy shit! You are never living this down Dickie!” Jason yells, putting one gun away. He still had one casually pointed at the floor. I really can't blame him seeing as how he just spent who knows how long fighting off an intruder.

“Nice to see you again Jason,” I say, still holding Ellie and Tim behind me. My trust is strong but he still has a gun out and it would hurt me less than it would hurt them.

“I know this may be asking a lot, but do you mind putting that away,” I gesture toward the gun. He looks down at the gun, back to me and without breaking eye contact flings it down the hallway behind me. I let go of a breath and lowered my arms.

“Hey how do you know he’s who he says he is?” Dick gripes, still on the floor. I look at him and raise an eyebrow.

“The same way I knew who you were the instant I didn’t feel threatened and had you pinned under me. I can read ecto-signatures, or as you probably know them auras. Had you told me to stop before putting a knife to my throat, I wouldn’t have dropped you,” I said, a bit annoyed at him.

“If you knew who I was, why did you ask me to prove it?” Dick asked, finally standing up off the ground.

“Because you held a knife to my throat when I was trying to get to my baby,” I say flatly. I turn back around and bring Ellie and Tim back into my arms and pepper kisses over their faces until they are both giggling.

“Enough with the PDA. We get it—you’ve got people who love you. No need to rub it in our single faces,” Jason said with a small smile on his face even though his words came out gruff.

“Is my happiness making you upset Jay?” I say teasingly. I see his hand twitch toward his gun, but stops. He may want to shoot me for making fun of him, but I don’t think he wants to end up on the floor like Dick.

“Yeah ‘Jay’ is my BOYFRIEND making you jealous?” Tim pipes up from in my arms. I look at him and just smile. I want to kiss him so bad, but refrain from doing so in front of so many people.

Jayson just huffs and walks back the way he came. I go to follow when I notice someone else in the bunker who has just been sitting observing this entire time.

“Technus. What are you doing here?” I ask, pushing past Tim and Ellie, who is comfortably still in Tim’s arms.

“It’s a long story, Young King, that I’m sure Dani would be happy to fill you in on later. What’s more important is why are you here?” Technus said in his annoying voice. It just scratches at some parts of my still human brain in a bad way.

“First off, her name is Ellie not Dani. That was changed before she was taken. Second off what do you mean why am I here? I’m here because unlike some ghosts I care about this world. If I went nuclear every time something bad happened I would be just like Pariah Dark,” I say the second part of my statement coming out more confused than I anticipated.

“She changed her name? How wonderful!” Technus said all happy then registered the second part of my statement. “And last I heard you were taken by the GIW.”

“How did you hear I was taken by the GIW? And again I ask why are YOU here?” I asked more firmly this time.

“The GIW had gotten me a month ago right after they got Dan- I mean Ellie and threatened to hurt her if I didn’t comply with their wishes,” he said then quickly added, “Now that I know she’s safe I don’t have to work for those bastards anymore.”

I growl low in my throat at the mention of the shit they did to her, but contain it. Just barely.

“Well now that you know we are both safe I’m sending you back to the ghost zone. Until all this is figured out I don’t want anymore ghosts to come through the portal. I’ll have an official notice drafted and send it with Fright Knight later,” I say, opening a small portal to the realms.
Technus bows and slips through the portal and I nearly collapse because of how much energy that used. I really need to check up with Frostbite about that. It’s never been this hard to make simple portals for me before. Maybe it's because I keep bringing other people with me? Who knows.

I make my way over to where Tim and Ellie are still standing, and together we walk toward where I assume the main part of the cave is. While walking I grab Tim's hand and he adjusts Ellie to be in only one arm. It always amazes me how easily he can carry someone half his size like it’s nothing.

“Hurry up, lover birds. We have someone we need information from and I figured Danny would be the best person,” Dick says from in front of us.

I rolled my eyes and reluctantly let go of Tim’s hand. I instantly miss the warmth and weight of it. When we get to the main area I see Batman standing over a man tied up. He looks similar to Bruce, with one key difference. The imposter was smiling.

“Who are you?” I ask when I’m within earshot of the man. He turns to me and all the blood leaves his face.

“I- I’m- I’m not sure what you mean. I’m Bruce Wayne,” the imposter stutters out. I glare at him and start to circle him looking him over.

“No, you aren’t. Want to know how I know? Bruce has never met me and so he wouldn’t have recognized me, but you did,” I say from behind him. I squat down and lean toward his ear and whisper, “I know how to make it so no one knew you existed.”

“My name is Agent-” he stops. His eyes widen, hand flying to his throat as a thin trickle of foam rolls from the corner of his mouth. I growl and yank his ghost out of his dying body before he can fully pass on.

“Not even death can get you out of this conversation. Talk,” I say, still holding onto his ghost. He suddenly looks paler than he previously. He starts to shake in my grip and looks around to see if he can escape.

“Holy shit,” I hear Jason mutter, and see Tim nodding along with the same sentement.

“My name is Agent J, I’m a meta human who can change appearances to look and sound like anyone. I was just given an assignment to infiltrate this place in a Batman outfit and say the code I was given. I swear I didn’t know about anything else. All they told me was the code and gave me an implant that would activate the moment I tried to give away any information. I never meant to hurt anyone I swear,” the ghost said, finally letting my order take hold.

He continued to rant about how he didn’t know anything about the GIW’s agenda and to let him go. His ghostly form flickering, features melting away until the stolen Bruce façade dissolved into a gaunt, sharp-faced stranger.

“Is that enough information Batman?” I ask over my shoulder, still holding onto the ghost who no longer looks like Bruce in a cheap Batman suit.

“Hnn,” he replies instead of an actual answer.

“We’re all good. I don’t think this ghost has any more relevant information. You can let him go,” Dick translated.

I released the shade, watching as its form unraveled into drifting wisps before fading completely—another soul too weak to hold a full ghost form. The moment it vanished, my knees gave out. I hit the ground hard, barely processing the sting as Ellie rushed to my side. Her small hand pressed against my back, grounding me while the weight of it all finally crashed down.

The GIW was recruiting metas. Implanting suicide failsafes into them. Using people as disposable weapons and silencing them forever if they tried to speak.

My stomach twisted. My chest tightened.

“Danny?” I lifted my head to find Tim crouched in front of me, eyes sharp but soft in the way only he could manage. And just—just seeing him there… the tears finally broke loose.

“We need to bury him,” I whispered. “Souls can’t rest without a proper grave.” He nodded without hesitation and reached for me. Instinct made me flinch, expecting another hit—but instead his palm settled warm and gentle against my cheek. His thumb swept away the tears I didn’t even realize were falling so fast.

“We’ll do that for him,” he murmured. Then he moved closer, crowding into my space in a way that made it impossible to feel alone, and wrapped his arms around me.

And I let go. I let myself cry into Tim’s warm embrace.

Chapter Text

I held Danny as he cried into my arms. Danny trembles against me, and it hits me harder than any hit I’ve taken on patrol—how quiet his crying is. Like he’s trying not to take up space even now.

Ellie looks at me with small tears in her eyes as well. I opened my arms for her as well and she crawled into my arms next to her dad. Danny wraps her in one arm while the other is still wrapped around me.

We sit there for a while in silence before Dick finally speaks up.

“I don’t want to break up this moment, but what are we supposed to do with him,” he said, jerking his hand toward the Dead GIW agent.

“We give him a proper send off. We call Clark and Lois and have them publish the article today,” I say. “We can’t wait any longer. The GIW is getting bolder and we need to prevent more deaths.”

Jason nods and moves to cover the body with a sheet and whips out his phone. I see Duke out of the corner of my eye and see him looking at Danny and Ellie. His footsteps draw closer. Too close. Danny’s still shaking. Ellie’s clinging to him. My instincts flare. I tighten my grip on them.

“Ummm. What was that?” he questions when he is close enough to us but still being respectful of some distance between us.

“What was what Duke?” I ask.

“That whole pulling him out of his body and giving an order for him to talk. Can you do that to anyone?” He asks. I look at Danny and he just shakes his head without saying anything.

“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day young Masters, and young Madam,” Alfred says from the steps, “if you would all follow me I have set up a room for our guests and have made some refreshments.”

Alfred to the rescue again. I try to stand, but with Danny still holding onto me it’s a bit difficult. I manage to pull him up with me and we follow after Alfred.

The elevator ride up was silent as no one wanted to shatter what little peace there was. We knew something big was going to happen and this is the calm before the storm.

“I assume, if it’s alright with Master Timothy, that Danny and Ellie will be staying in your room?” Alfred finally breaks the silence when the elevator reaches the top. I nod my head and pull Danny towards my room in the manor.

We reach my room, only for Damian to be standing in front of my door.

“Drake,” he greets, “who is this?”

“This is Danny. Or as some people know him, King Phantom,” I say simply. Damian looks Danny up and down, nodding once then leaves. That was strange, even for him.

We entered my room and I set Danny on the bed. Ellie climbs into his lap and just sits like it's her personal throne.
Danny mindlessly plays with her hair putting in small braids and other small designs with ice. Ellie just sits there and lets him do as he pleases.

“What do you need baby?” I ask softly. He looks at me, but doesn't say anything. I quietly sit beside him and take one of his hands. It starts to tremble.

“I hate doing that,” is all he says before he goes back to playing with Ellie's hair. I look at him, really look and see how tired he is. He has bags under his eyes and his eyes are dull. I grab Ellie off his lap and set her on the bed.

I push him to a laid down position, put Ellie next to him and move so I can pull his head into my lap. I slowly start to rake my hands through his hair. He hums and closes his eyes. I hear Ellie chirp a few times, then Danny chirps back.

“I don’t speak chip, but I can see how tired you are. Sleep, I’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll keep you safe. I promise,” I say, still running my hands through his hair, he sighs and buries his head into my lap and lets his body be pulled into sleep.

“Will he be ok?” Ellie asks when she’s sure he’s asleep. I nod my head. I haven’t known him for long, but I know eventually he will be ok.
We sit there in silence before Ellie yawns as well. I shift my body a bit so I’m sitting in the middle of the bed with Danny on my left. I pull her towards my right side and she lays her head down on my shoulder. I adjust us all again so we are all laying down. This time Danny has his head on my chest and Ellie is laying looking at him.

Guess we’re all taking a nap.

When I wake up I still feel Ellie’s weight on my right side, but I don’t feel Danny's weight. I slowly move so I don’t disturb her sleep and go to my open window. I look out and sure enough I see Danny sitting with his knees to his chest.

“Hey baby, are you willing to talk now?” I ask softly. He looks up at the sky then nods. “What happened?”

“He was died because the GIW sent him on a suicide mission. I held his soul—I felt it falling apart—and I ordered him to speak. I’ve never… I’ve never done that before,” he said, then continued even quieter, “I couldn’t save him.”

That last sentence really drove home for me how inexperienced he actually is when it comes to dealing with living humans.

“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but you can’t save everyone. It’s hard as all hell to lose someone. It’s even harder when you think you’re the one responsible for it. You aren’t responsible for his death Danny. Sometimes all you can do is give them a proper send off and continue living,” I say, pulling him close to me. He sinks into my side and seems smaller than me.

“How do you deal with it? How do you deal with losing people, especially the ones you swore to protect,” he said into my neck. I shiver at his cold breath, but keep it from showing.

“Things that work for me won’t necessarily work for you, because what I do is not the healthiest way to deal with it. I internalize it, thinking if I had been faster, if I had taken a different roof-top, if I had planned for that specific thing maybe they would still be alive. I also throw myself into work, I sleep less, research more, eat less, thinking of every possible outcome,” I say to the starless sky.

“Yeah that’s not healthy. You need better coping mechanisms,” Danny snorts into my neck. He then starts to press small kisses to my neck. I push down the shiver I can feel coming up my bones and slightly push him away.

“So is dealing with it via sex,” I say, he pouts at me but doesn’t disagree. I stand up and reach my hand toward him. He grabs it and I pull him up.

“Let’s go talk with the rest of the family. I’m sure they have a bunch of questions. We’re going to leave out how we met though,” I say.
He just laughs, ducks his head and gives me a small peck on the lips. I smile and pull him in for another quick kiss then shove him in the direction of the still open window. When we get in Ellie starts to stir in her sleep.

“Good evening princess, sleep well?” Danny asks her, shaking her shoulder a small amount to fully wake her up. She nods groggily and slides off the bed. I stifle a laugh at her slightly disheveled hair that still has the ice braids.

We head down to the main dining room—unfortunately already loud. I hear something crash. Dick’s obnoxious laugh echoes off the walls. Jason
shouts something about “timing your punches, you acrobatical menace.”

I groan and push the door open.

Everyone freezes.

Bruce has his head in his hands—classic.

Damian is half-standing on his chair, sword drawn, looking two seconds away from decapitation.

Jason is halfway on his seat with a gun pointed at the ceiling.

Dick is still on the floor, laughing so hard he’s wheezing.

Duke looks like he wants to resign from the family that he technically isn’t even biologically part of.

“And this is why I didn’t want you to meet them sooner,” I say as if we’ve had this conversation before. Danny looks at me as if he’s about to say something out of pocket.

“And I told you my home life was weirder,”The room goes dead silent.

Bruce looks up, eyes sharpening.

Jason freezes mid-smirk.

Dick stops laughing so abruptly it’s almost concerning.

Duke blinks rapidly like his brain blue-screened.

Damian drops back into his chair—but keeps his sword out.

“I now have many more questions than I did previously,” Duke mutters, voicing what everyone else is thinking.

Danny slides into a chair with regal ease. “Ask away. I reserve the right to skip rude or invasive questions.”

I sat next to him and Ellie got onto the seat next to Danny’s other side. Danny was sitting across from Dick, who had finally gotten off the floor and was now sitting like a civilized human. Dick also looked interested in what Danny was about to say.

Duke leans forward like a journalist at a press conference. “First question—what are you?”

“I’m a halfa. Half human, half ghost.”

Jason’s head jerks up. “I’m sorry—what?”

Danny continues calmly, plating pancakes and fruit for Ellie. “Both parents are human. Lab accident at fourteen. Don’t ask for details.”

Duke nods, already forming the next question. “Okay. Who trained you?”

Danny shrugs. “Mostly self-taught. Pandora helped once I became king.”

Dick’s fork clatters loudly. “Pandora. As in—Pandora?”

“Yes,” Danny says, deadpan. “The one with the box.”

Bruce visibly reassesses all his life choices.

“How did you become king?” Duke asks.

Danny smirks. “Beat the last king in a fight.”

Jason chokes on his water. Dick looks like Christmas just came early. Damian stares at Danny with new, borderline-terrifying interest.
Duke opens his mouth to ask how, but Danny cuts him off.

“You don’t need to know that. Dangerous information. Next?”

Dick clears his throat. “Right. More important question: how’d you meet Tim?”

“You get two relationship questions total,” Danny warns, pointing at him. “Choose wisely.”

Dick thinks, grimaces. “Fine. How did you find out Tim’s identity?”

Danny smiles innocently. “I can read ecto-signatures. Auras. You’re down to one.”

Dick swears under his breath.

Jason jumps in immediately. “Okay then—how’d he find out you're a halfa?”

“Background check into my hometown. About a month into dating.”

Dick turns to me, scandalized. “Tim. TIM. That’s creepy.”

Jason nods aggressively.

Danny smirks. “And you’re out of questions.”

I take a slow, very intentional bite of food to hide my smile.

Dick, recovering, leans forward eagerly. “So—sparring?”

Danny bares a smile with just slightly too many teeth. “You want to get dropped in under a minute again? I’d be delighted.”
Dick freezes. Jason bursts into delighted laughter. Damian leans forward like he’s paying attention now for the first time. Even Bruce lets out a faint, resigned exhale that might qualify as a laugh under a microscope.

And me?

A ghost of a shiver runs down my spine at the sight of all those sharp teeth.

…God help me, it’s stupidly attractive.

“How about weapons? Do you know how to use them?” Damian asks.

“You want to sword fight with me Robin?” Danny asks back.

“TT. I just want to know if you’re as good at weapons as you are at sparring hand to hand as they are vastly different skills,” Damian clarifies.

“I was trained in all types of martial arts and weapons during my time with Pandora. I’d be happy to show you some of my skills another time, small warrior,” Danny said. Damian seemed to puff up at the comment about being a warrior, then deflated at being called small.

Bruce sighed then asked, “What are your intentions with Tim?”

Danny smiles and grabs hold of my hand under the table. “I already answered two relationship questions, but I’ll allow this one. My intentions are not malicious if that’s what you’re worried about. He’s my boyfriend and I would go to the edge of the Infinite Realms to keep him safe.”

“That’s disgustingly sweet,” I hear from the doorway. I look over and see Stephine standing there with her arms crossed.

“Well hello again, nice to correctly meet you Stephine, or should I call you something else?” Danny said. He didn’t even look back at her.
“What else would you call me?” Stephine asked, confused.

“Agent–” Danny said

Before another word can be said there’s a knife thrown at the back of Danny’s head the same time a sword comes flying out of nowhere. Danny easily dodges the knife and grabs the sword from mid air, stopping it an inch from Ellie who is just peacefully eating.

“Try that shit again and I will drop you faster than you can comprehend,” Danny said with a bit of ice forming on the blade. I sit back and wait for the chaos to unfold.

The person stands there in momentary shock.

“How did you know?” they snap back at Danny. He looks at them, dropping the sword, pulling the knife from where it lodged in the chair, and stands up.

“I am the Ghost King. Ruler of the Infinite Realms. I am currently working with Tim to bring down an international terrorist group that is sanctioned by your government. I am also the ancient of space and balance. I know all who are and all who will be. Do not question me,” Danny said, that statement sent shivers down everyone's spine.

Bruce’s jaw tightens. He’s re-running every threat assessment in his head. I can tell.

The agent backed away before suddenly collapsing, foaming at the mouth. Before they hit the ground Danny surges forward and grabs their ghost like he did earlier today.

“Tell me, how did you get in? And how far is the GIW willing to go to get me?” Danny said in a fake calm. The air has a sudden chill and specks of ice start to form on the walls.

“We… kidnapped the girl. Made a clone. She is alive. Contained.”

Every bat at the table goes rigid. Steph. Real Steph is—

“We caught her in Metropolis a week ago. The GIW… is rebuilding your parents’ portal. They keep failing. They plan to sacrifice death row inmates to force open another portal, hoping the resulting ghosts can be harvested for experimentation.”

Ellie’s fork slips from her hand and clatters onto the plate.

Danny released his hold on the ghost and just like last night the ghost faded into nothingness.

“How–” Dick started but was cut off.

“Her ecto was wrong. Real people have signatures that change slightly, but clones don’t. Their signature is set and doesn’t change at all. Duke I’m sure you’ve seen how auras change slightly around different people, it’s kinda the same concept,” Danny explained.

“I’ve always been curious about that but never thought much of it,” Duke admitted.

“Yeah, and I’m sure if the rest of you had spent more then 5 seconds with them you would notice slight discrepancies between the personalities,” Danny explained further.

I look back to where the imposter of Step was still lying on the ground and, yeah, I sorta see some small differences already. Her hair isn’t quite the right shade and she doesn’t have any scars on her arms or the small ones on her neck that she usually covers with makeup.

“We need to move now,” Bruce said, standing up and walking away from the table expecting everyone else to just follow. We do.
We make it down to the cave in record time and all go about changing into our uniforms. I watch as both Danny and Ellie stand there actually looking around instead of having a singular focus.

“This is no longer just my fight,” Danny said quietly.

“It never should’ve been to begin with,” I say, reaching for his hand. He allows the contact and I give a squeeze before I go to change into my Red Robin suit.

Chapter Text

“This is no longer just my fight,” I say out loud for the first time ever as I realize I’m no longer alone.

“It never should’ve been to begin with,” I hear Tim say from behind me. He reaches for my hand, I allow the small gesture of contact, and gives it a gentle squeeze. I want to wrap him up in my arms and never let go, but he lets go and goes to the changing room to change into his
uniform.

I wait the antagonizing three minutes for him to come back and in that time everyone else has emerged and are all suited up.

“Our first order of business is finding out where they are keeping Spoiler, we plan from there,” Batman said when he saw everyone present. Everyone nods and then looks towards me. I freeze for a second before I transform into Phantom and into king mode.

“Once we get her back we treat this as a declaration of war against the Infinite realms and their citizens. We gather data, break out any prisoners they have, and above all else we keep casualties to a minimal. We do not need a reason for the government to see more of a reason to see my people as a threat. Am I clear?” I say looking directly at Jason. He looks back and loads his gun.

“Crystal,” he said.

“Once we rescue everyone, we wipe the place clean. Red Robin, Oracle — you’re handling all data extraction and destruction. I want everything, no matter how insignificant. Batman, Robin — get every captive out alive. Hood, you’re with me. You’ll run point while I dismantle their blueprints and weapons,” I say handing out orders.

“What about me?” Dick asked.

“Nightwing—you’re handling transportation for all injured humans and non-ghost beings,” I say, tone crisp. “I’ll take care of the ghosts.”
Dick pouts—of course he does—but nods anyway.

“Uh… and me?” Duke asks.

I turn toward him, softening my voice. “You stay here. You’re the only Bat who reliably operates during the day. If we leave Gotham completely unprotected, the rogues will figure it out fast. I need you to hold the city together while we’re gone. If you’re not comfortable with that, tell me now and I’ll call in one of my associates.”

Duke swallows, hesitates—and then steals himself and nods. “I’ve got it.”

I nod back, then lift a hand. The air warps in front of me, swirling into a tear of green and black. I reach into the portal, grasp a familiar hand, and pull someone through.

The moment she steps into the Cave, every single Bat’s guard shoots to high alert.

“This,” I announce, “is one of my associates from Amity Park. She goes by Red Huntress. She’s the only ghost hunter I trust—and one of my knights. She has full authority to invoke my name and title as needed.”

Val lets go of my hand and takes in the room of costumed vigilantes. Then she fixes me with a flat stare.

“You could’ve called,” she growls. “And Sam and Tucker told me to give you something if I saw you before they did.”

Before I can react, she slaps me across the face hard enough that Dick actually yelps—and then immediately drags me into a bone-crushing hug.

Jason and Tim both reach for weapons. I hold up a hand.

“I deserved that,” I admit, slipping out of the King’s cadence and back into my normal voice.

“You think?” Valerie snaps. “You disappear. You say you’re going to get help because Ellie was captured. Then your parents go on TV saying you’re dead and your body’s being overshadowed. A month later you show up with—” she gestures vaguely at the Cave and its occupants—“the furry brigade, calling yourself King Phantom like it’s Tuesday?”

“Yeah. It’s… a very long story,” I say. “But right now you need the short version: the GIW kidnapped one of the Bats, cloned her, and then killed the clone. We’re officially at war.”

Valerie’s expression hardens immediately. In a flash her Red Huntress armor folds over her, helmet clicking into place as her hoverboard whirs to life.

“Alright,” Batman growls. “Everyone knows their roles. Move out.”

Jason swings onto his bike, revving the engine. Bruce and Damian slide into the Batmobile, tires squealing as they tear out of the Cave.

“Val,” I say quickly, catching her before she launches. “I need you to keep Ellie with you. If things go south, I don’t want her anywhere near the GIW.”

Ellie’s eyes are already filled with tears. I kneel so we’re eye-level.

“I know you want to come,” I tell her gently. “But I’m not risking you anywhere near those agents. Val’s sworn to protect me—and she’ll protect you with her life.”

Ellie sniffles, but nods.

I straighten and turn toward Tim. We don’t say a word—just hold each other’s gaze. Before I can talk myself out of it, I lean in and press a quick kiss to his lips.

“Don’t die,” he whispers.

I nod once, hop onto the back of Jason’s bike, and we roar out into the night.

The ride was mostly silent except for the occasional directions from the ear pieces we all have. Tim and Barbra figured out where the GIW is keeping Stephine and are directing us. The base was surprisingly close to Gotham’s docks so it didn’t take more than 10 minutes to get there.
When we arrive I see everyone else is already on scene. Tim is hacking the computers and taking down the cameras and then pops the lock on the door. We all spread out and go towards our respective places. Oracle is directing different groups through the building.

I gesture towards one of the doors and Jason gets on one side and pulls a gun out. I reach for the handle but suddenly stop. I turn around at the sound of footsteps. I grab Jason and turn us both invisible.

“Fuck!” an agent in his white lab coat and sunglasses yells, “They figured out the clone already. How soon can we get more information out of her. She’s just a civilian, how has she held up under torture?”

“We don’t know sir,” another agent says, “ We’ve tried all we can think of. We can’t kill her because she has useful information, and short of cutting her open, we don’t have any other methods."

I let go of Jason and as soon as he is back in the visible spectrum he grabs both their heads and slams them together. They both crumple to the floor in silent heaps without getting another word out.

I quickly move and open the door and inside is not the weapons room, it's the prison cells. I see all kinds of blob ghosts, ghost animals, humans, aliens, and everything in between.

“We have a situation,” Jason whispers into his comm.

“I’m pulling up your helmet cam Hood,” Oracle said, and then took a sudden intake of breath. “Ok we need a change of plans as the blueprints for the building are wrong. This was definitely done on purpose.”

“Batman and Robin you are now in charge of destroying the weapons, when you find the blueprints send me the cords and I’ll portal to you. Hood and I found the prisoners,” I say and hear a few more sharp intakes of breaths.

“Copy that,” Batman said, and with that Jason and I set about opening the cages. I get all the ghosts into a thermos as Jason checks on all the breathing creatures. When I finally get all the ghosts I go to the last cell and almost collapse at the sight.

Stephine is there covered in her own blood, sweat, and who knows what else. I gently open the cell door and she looks up at me with fire in her eyes. Whether she recognised me or not is still up for debate, so is if she’s going to try to punch me.

“Hey Steph. I’m Red Robin's boyfriend, do you remember me?” I ask softly, she still has that guarded look in her eyes but slightly relaxes. I reach for her but she suddenly launches herself at me.

“Nice try asshole, I won’t fall for that,” she said and went to attack me again. Jason comes up behind her and knocks her out.

“She was taught to fight if backed into a corner. There is no reasoning with her right now,” Jason explains at my confused look. I nod as he picks her up in a princess carry and I get a beep on my communicator.

“We found the lab,” Robin said, and with it came cords. I look at Jason, he nods and I open a portal to where Batman and Robin are. Stepping out of the portal I look around and see two people I never wanted to see again.

“How dare you! YOU KILLED MY BABY!” my so called mother screeches. I hold up my hand and she stops mid step.

“No I didn’t, you did,” I say before I knock her out. I look at the crumpled form of Maddie and feel heavy. I see Jack trying to get up from where he was and failing. I ignore him and go back to my task at hand of destroying certain blueprints and keeping others.

“Time for you to leave,” I say to Batman and Robin. Before they can comment or complain I open a portal beneath them and they fall through. I look towards the half built portal and send ecto-blasts at the base and watch it explode.

I go intangible and portal out, leaving Jack and Maddie behind. They were far enough away from the blast so they should survive, but I ultimately don’t care anymore. They willingly participated in human experimentation and killed people.

Stepping out the other side of the portal I’m met with Superman and Wonder Woman talking to Batman. I start to walk toward them when my vision starts to go blurry and I feel my transformation start to happen. Bruce notices, rushes towards me and throws his cape over me just in time for my transformation to fully retreat and I hit the ground.

Waking up was a strange sort of groggy experience. I try to open my eyes but they feel like they have a thousand pounds hanging off them. I decide it's better to give into the calling darkness then try to force myself to react.
Waking up feels like dragging myself through wet cement. My eyelids burn when I try to lift them, too heavy, too tired, too wrong. My body isn’t obeying me, and for a moment I swear I’m still on the floor of the GIW lab with their needles in my arms—

No. No, I got out. I escaped.

I force my eyes open and—

White walls. Bright lights. Sterile air. Straps biting into my wrists.

No—

No, no, no, no—

My breath spikes, harsh and shallow, and I yank at the restraints. My powers claw at the edges of my reach—close enough to sense, too far to use. Like they’ve been shoved behind glass. Like before. Like them.

My parents’ voices echo in memory—shouting, accusing, dissecting—

Maybe it was a dream. Maybe I never escaped at all.

Darkness pulls me back under before I can scream.

Chapter Text

The mission was mostly a success. We got Steph out alive, we got evidence of the GIW’s crimes, and there were no serious injuries on our side. Can’t say as much for the GIW, but it’s not a huge loss to humanity.

I call in Clark and Diana to meet up at the extraction point to help with anything that the onsite team may need. I hear Bruce talking with them then suddenly stop.

“Phantom,” He whispers and my heart drops. What happened to Danny? I pull up Jason’s helmet cam and don’t see Danny anywhere.

“What happened to him?” I say, trying to remain calm.

“He opened a portal, stepped out, looked around, and then started to detransform. B was able to get his cape around him just in time so no one saw anything, but he is out cold,” Dick said, as I hear his breath pick up as if he’s sprinting somewhere.

“What do you mean ‘out cold’? Is he still breathing?” I ask a bit frantically. I hear a hum of affirmation and take a few deep breaths. I can work with still breathing. I wouldn’t know what to do if he wasn’t breathing.

“What do you know about his medical history RR?” Dick asks.

“Next to nothing after the age of 14. He stopped going to the hospital when he was that age so I couldn’t find anything,” I say before remembering something, “We can ask Red Huntress. Maybe she knows something.”

I open up a comm link between us and wait.

“Huntress, do you copy?” I ask when I don’t hear anything.

“Shit!” she exclaims “I forgot you were in my ear. What's up RR?”

“What do you know about Phantom’s medical history? He passed out in the field,” I say hoping to convey the severity without causing undo panic.

“Personally I don’t know much, but I know someone who might. I’ll send over his number,” Red Huntress said, and not a moment later I get a number. I pull out my phone and punch in the number. I hesitate before pressing ‘call’ waiting for it to ring.

“Hello this is Tucker,” a male voice says from the other side.

“Tucker, this is Red Robin. We have a situation that we were told you have the answer to. What can you tell me about Phantom’s medical history after the age of 14?” I say professionally, hoping he doesn’t hear the unsteadyness in my voice.

“Ummm, yeah I can send you a copy of everything I have gathered over the years, but it’s only what I’ve observed personally. His primary doctor isn’t reachable,” Tucker said, I hear him typing on the other side of and feel my phone buzz with a message.

“Before you hang up, can I know if he is still alive,” Tucker asked softly.

“He is breathing,” is all I say before I hang up. I skim Tucker’s file—injuries, symptoms, episodes, GIW data. More suffering than anyone should experience in a lifetime, let alone six years. I’m halfway through the section on unstable transformations when the Batmobile screeches into the cave.

Danny looked so small and fragile wrapped in Bruce's cape. He still passed out, when I grab him he stirs but doesn’t wake up. I brought him to the medbay and carefully set him on one of the beds.

I look toward Bruce for any kind of answers he might have, but he just shakes his head still looking at Danny’s sleeping face.
I feel the weight of the unknown starting to weigh me down, and I start to hyperventilate. Bruce walks over and drags me into a hug and takes obvious deep breaths. I try to follow along, but am failing miserably.

After what feels like forever, but is only about 5 minutes, I can feel my breathing return to normal and my heart rate decrease. I look back to the bed and almost go back into a panic. Danny is clawing at his face and neck in his sleep.

I run over to his bed and grab his hands. Once I touch him he stops actively clawing at his face, and I can see the full extent of the damage. His nails are sharper and he has claw marks from his forehead to his chin. It looks like he was attacked by a bear.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” I whisper and just hold his hands. I want to crawl into bed with him, but I need to get these laws overthrown ASAP for him. I need to do it for him now more than ever.

The next few days blur into a cycle of monitoring machines, wiping sweat from Danny’s brow, and forcing myself not to fall apart again. Bruce insists on shifts, but I can’t stay away for long. Not when he keeps reaching for someone who isn’t there.

Then suddenly the heart rate monitor skyrockets. I run as fast as I can to the medbay to see Danny thrashing around in his restraint.

We learned after the first day that if I wasn’t physically touching him, he started to claw at anything on himself he could reach. It scared me so much when we put the restraints on him the first time that Dick had to talk me back from my panic attack.

“Baby?” I try softly, he doesn’t hear me over his own heavy breathing.

“Baby?”I tried again, slightly louder. This time he looks in my direction with the most terrified expression on his face like he’s not really seeing me, but something worse. I walk slowly over to his bed and move to take the cuffs off his wrists when he jerks away.

“Danny, it’s me. I’m just going to take the cuffs off,” I say as I reach for his wrist again. He lets me grab it and as soon as I’m touching him he relaxes and looks confused.

“Where am I?” He asks with a scratchy voice. I reach for a glass of water but as soon as my hand leaves his he starts to panic again. I quickly pull his hand into mine again and he calms down.

“You're safe, baby. I promised I wouldn’t let anything hurt you and I failed. I’m so sorry,” I say and crawl into his bed. I wrap my arms around him hoping to protect him now that he’s back in my arms.

“I’m so sorry I failed,” he starts to say over and over again into my shirt as he has a death grip on my shirt. I shush him and just hold onto him as hard as I can. He wears himself out by crying and is just curled into my arms almost catatonic.

“Oh Danny, you didn’t fail. You kept everyone safe like you said you would. I’m here now, no one got hurt. You saved everyone,” I say after a few minutes of silence. He just nods, but doesn’t do much else besides lay in my arms.

We stay like that for nearly an hour before we get our first visitor, who just so happens to be the demon brat. Damian walked in and saw Danny curled into my side, me just holding him, decided he didn’t want to deal with it and left after a quick glance at me.

“We should get up and move around a bit. You’ve been stuck in almost a coma for a week. Do you want me to call anyone?” I ask after Damian left. Danny looked up at me, chirped something and settled back into my side. I sigh and run my hands through his hair.

The next person to show up is Jason who has Ellie with him. Over the past week whenever I’m unavailable she has started to gravitate towards Jason for some reason that she won’t explain. Jason is taking it like a champ and is staying at the manor more often now, even with Bruce present.

“Hey Timbo, I got the little squirt with me. I heard someone finally woke up,” Jason said, setting Ellie down on the floor. She barely touched the floor before she was suddenly in between Danny and I.

Ellie wedged herself between us before I could blink. Danny didn’t flinch away — which was the first thing that made my heart unclench all week.

Danny blinked at her before he slowly wrapped his free arm around her. Ellie chirped and Danny relaxed and chirped back. I move to get off the bed, but as soon as I’m not touching him, Danny starts to panic the slightest amount

“I’m not going far. I just need to talk to Jason real quick. You’ll be able to see me the entire time,” I say and he shakes his head. I look at Jason and he just shrugs.

“I have to go out on patrol anyway. Maybe you’ll be able to catch me up when I get back,” he says, and I nod before he leaves the room to go change into his Red Hood uniform. Jason hovered in the doorway for a moment longer than usual, eyes flicking over Danny’s restrained form.
His jaw clenched; grief and fury lived under his skin in equal measure. “If you need anything, Timbo—anything—you call.

I lay back down on the bed with Ellie in between Danny and I. I’m still holding Danny's left hand, while his right is clutching Ellie’s hand. We just lay like that in silence when Danny falls back to sleep. I move slightly and he shoots awake looking around for any perceived danger.

“It’s ok, baby. No one is here besides us. Go back to sleep, I’ll keep watch,” I whisper into his hair. He nods and lays his head down on my chest after shifting Ellie. I run my hands through his hair and start to hum a small tune.

Danny chirps, softer this time—almost sleepy. Ellie answers with a tiny trill. I keep humming, letting their little noises settle into the room like a promise that we’re all still here. Still together. Still fighting.

Chapter Text

Leaving the cave was harder than it has been in years. Probably about the time I was robin was when I last felt the want to be in the cave. I know where my heart wants me to be, but my brain tells me I won’t be of much assistance there. So I do what I’m best at, patrol.

The first problem I run into is a small mugging that’s easy enough to stop. It doesn’t do anything for my racing thoughts of wanting, almost needing, to go back to the cave and stand vigilance.

“You’re off your game hood,” I hear from behind me. I spin around with a gun drawn, only to see Arsenal there. I holster my gun and sit on the edge of the roof I’ve been standing on for the last 10 minutes.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him.

“Nightwing called me,” Roy said, as if that explained anything.

“And like a little dog you answered his call?” I snap back. I’m not in the mood for Dick’s paranoia right now.

“We both know that’s not true Hood. Want to tell me why you are all hyped up on nothing?” he asked me gently.

“RR is back in the cave with something sensitive and I feel out of the loop when it comes to it. I don’t want to intrude on this, but my body seems to have other ideas. It’s telling me to get involved, but I can’t,” I say, venting my frustrations to him. He just listens quietly.

“Could it be because of your past with RR that you don’t want to accidentally fuck something up again?” he says, and holy shit does it change my frustrations to something entirely new.

“What?” I say, unable to stop the word before it comes out.

“I know you are still blaming yourself for what happened at Titan Tower, even after RR has forgiven you. You don’t want to leave him because you’re afraid that history is going to repeat itself one way or another and you don’t want Tim to go through that again,” Roy said. I sharply look at him and mutter about names in the field, but don’t say anything more.

We sit in silence for a few minutes before I see the heart monitor sky rocket again, and sprint toward where I left my bike with Roy hot on my heels.

The few minutes it takes to get back to the cave my mind is coming up with the worst case scenarios and it’s starting to make me panic. I shove it down and throw my break down when I finally enter the cave. I sprint to the medbay.

“TIM!” I scream as soon as I enter, looking around for him only to see him, Danny, and Ellie all fast asleep. I look at the heart monitor and it’s a normal rhythm. The beeping of the machine and the steady heartrate bring me back to the present.

“Jason what happened?” Roy asks, standing behind me looking around for any threat, but seeing none.

“I don’t know. I thought I heard the heart-rate monitor skyrocket, and feared the worst,” I said honestly. I walk over to the side of the bed and just observe their sleeping faces.

“Jason, this isn’t normal behavior for you. What about this situation brings up old memories of the tower?” he asks gently.

“An unknown in a place where we should feel safe. I’ve seen some of the things this person can do when threatened, or when his child is threatened. I’m scared Roy, and I can’t stop it,” I say and collapse into one of the chairs beside the bed. Roy just nods and walks out of the room saying he’ll wait for me out in the main area.

I see Tim stir a bit in his sleep, before settling down. I just sit there staring at them sleeping for I don’t know how long when Danny wakes up and looks directly at me as if assessing if I’m a threat to him at that moment, he must decide I’m not because he goes back to sleep.

The next person to stir is Tim, again. He actually wakes up fully and looks at Danny’s sleeping face and then looks toward me.

“Good morning, Timberella. How’d you sleep?” I ask sarcastically to hide how relieved I am that he’s ok.

“What are you doing here Jason? I thought you had patrol,” he said with a deeper voice than I’m used to. Man his morning voice is strange compared to what I’m used to.

“The heart monitor skyrocketed and I thought someone broke in again,” I say, slightly lying hoping he can’t tell.

He looks at me as if he can’t tell if I’m lying or not, but leaves it alone. He shifts so he is sitting against the headboard with Danny's head in his lap and Ellie still wrapped in Danny's arms.

We continue to sit in silence before Roy comes in again.

“Hey so I don’t mean to interrupt, but we have a problem,” He said looking between us trying to decipher what’s happening.

“What problem?” Tim and I say at the same time.

“Nightwing got hit out in the field and B can’t seem to pin point his tracker. So if one of the bat boys could go and help with that, that would be great,” he said, almost offhandedly. I look at Tim and roll my eyes but stand up nonetheless and walk out of the medbay with Roy right behind me.

When the door closes and we are walking towards the main computer area.

“We actually have something worse than Dick being injured in the field," Roy stops me and points toward the main area, where I see someone who looks like Tim sitting at the computer. Without thinking I grab my gun and shoot the intruder in the back of the knee.

The person grunts but otherwise doesn’t react at all. I run over and rip him away from the computer to see Danny.

“Who are you?” I say pointing my gun at his head. Danny just looks at it then at me and vanishes. I twirl to look around, but don’t see anyone besides Roy standing in a defence position.

“So that was weird right? Like I’m not going insane and seeing double?” Roy asks.

I storm back to the medbay and see Tim in the same position with Danny now awake.

“Anything you forgot to mention about your ghost powers King Phantom?” I say in as steady of a voice I can muster at the moment.

“I don’t know what you all know, or what you don’t. I know you have some of my medical history and some of the experiments they did on me while I was with the GIW. So you are going to have to be more specific in your questions there,” he snarks back and curls tighter around Ellie and more in front of Tim. Tim looks confused and looks back towards me.

“I just saw you at the computer, shot your knee from behind with no reaction from you, then vanished. What was that?” I say losing patience. I hand my gun to Roy as if something goes down it will be more of a hindrance than helpful.

“Oh yeah, umm did I forget to tell you I can duplicate myself up to five times? Because that’s one of the first dozen abilities the GIW experimented with. Wondering if we all shared pain, so your bullets don’t hurt as much as an ecto blast,” he said calmly, as if explaining the weather.

“Sometimes they act without me thinking about it,” Danny added quietly.

“That would have been so helpful to know before I shot you in the knee, or back when we were working through the GIW base to get Steph,” I grumble, sliding back into my pre-claimed chair by the bed.

Danny is still mostly in front of Tim and holding Ellie, but relaxes when Roy sets the gun down on the floor. I motion for Roy to come over, he does and we all just stay in silence.

“Wait, did you not read what the GIW did to me?” Danny asked, confused. I understand where he is coming from, but how fucked up does he think we are to watch so called scientists rip someone apart.

“Why the fuck would we watch that?” Roy speaks for all of us.

“Because it’s vital information?” Danny sounds unsure of his answer even as he is saying it.

“Ok first of all we are not like the monsters who hurt you. We don’t need to see inside your body to know how it works. If we have questions we normally ask first, besides Jason. Jason shoots first then asks questions,” Tim said, bringing his hand to Danny’s face.

“Second, we make it a rule to never watch videos recorded of people's torture. We have morals and codes for a reason,” I continued, ignoring the slight jab Tim made at me.

Danny was looking between Tim and I and then started crying. I panic a bit as I don’t do well with others emotions, but Roy lays a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

Tim is not holding Danny’s face in both hands whispering something. I go to stand up when I feel a weight crash into me. I reach out to grab whatever it was and it’s Ellie wrapped around me like a snake.

I get a better hold on her and start to walk out of the room to give Tim and Danny some privacy when Ellie whispers, “Do you think I can be the flower girl at their wedding?”

I stop walking and just about drop her from how hard I’m trying not to laugh. Ellie looks at me with that smile that says she knows something I don’t and plans to use it against me. I’m fine with that for now, but I will figure out what she knows eventually.

Chapter Text

Jason walked out of the room with Ellie in his arms before he suddenly stopped and just about dropped Ellie with how hard his shoulders were shaking. I wonder what she said to make him laugh like that.

They continued walking out of the room and closed the door behind them, not before Roy sent a wink my way and closed the blinds over the window.

“Danny, what about any of this situation made you think we were anything like the people who hurt you? You are half human, but deserve full respect of your privacy,” I say tilting my head slightly.

“Growing up I was always told that ghosts don’t feel anything and are nothing more than post-human emotions imprinted on ectoplasm. Hearing that, especially after what happened when I was 14, made me start to believe that I didn’t deserve the same benefits as other’s,” Danny said after taking a minute to compose himself.

“Well that’s horse shit. You are alive, you feel things, and you care more for peoples lives than the GIW do. I will take pleasure watching them try to dig themselves out of this hole they have dug for themselves,” I say, saying the last part under my breath.

He just nods against my neck and we settle back into a more comfortable position. After a few minutes I feel Danny start to kiss along my jaw line. It’s feather light kisses that eventually turn into playful nips.

“Danny,” I breathe, “not in the med bay.”

I feel him smirk against my throat before the room lurches. We are suddenly in a different place. I look around and see we are in my apartment in the bedroom.

“Let me send a quick text to the family so they don’t freak out,” I say more breathlessly than I intended to. He hums and I pull out my phone and shoot a quick text that I’m at the nest with Danny and we’re safe.

Once the text is sent I throw my phone across the room and wrap my arms around Danny pulling him into a proper kiss. He hums into my mouth and starts grinding against me. I let out a quiet gasp and he slips his tongue into my mouth.

He continues to explore and I fist my hands into his shirt. I tug at it, wanting it off so I can feel more skin. He pulls back and rips his shirt over his head and does the same to mine. I hear something rip, but I couldn’t care less.

He dives back into my mouth and then trails kisses down my jaw and neck biting when he gets there. I let out a moan at the slight pain of it, but melt at it nonetheless.

“Pants,” I gasp out. He pulls away and stands up at the end of the bed. I shimmy out of my pants as he grabs my ankles and pulls me to the side of the bed. I reached out for him. He gives me a smirk before he drops to his knees.

I’m confused for only a moment before he grabs my legs and puts my feet on his shoulders and licks from my hole to the balls. I gasp and try to close my legs around his head, but his strength stops my legs from moving.

“Please,” I beg. I don’t entirely know what I’m begging for but I need more.

He licked again and then pushed his tongue in. I throw my head back and groan, pulling on his hair to try to get him closer. I grind back into his tongue as it fucks deeper into me.

I feel his other hand start to make its way up to my cock and stroke it lightly. I buck up into his hold and then back onto his tongue. He laughs and it sends wonderful vibrations through me.

He continues to eat me out and jerk me off and I feel close to the edge already. Right before I can find my release he stops and moves away. I
see him smirking as he wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.

“Asshole. I was so close,” I say after coming down a little. He stands up and I see he is also hard. I reach for him but he’s a bit too far away for me to grab. He leans over me and kisses me and I taste myself on his tongue.

We continue to make out until I’m no longer on the edge of climaxing when he kisses down my jaw and then neck and bites down. I moan at the slight pain it caused, but feel myself try to get some friction for where I need it most.

He pulls back from my neck and continues his trail downward. He then pulls one of my nipples into his mouth and starts to suck on it. After a few moments he lets go and moves to the other one. He does the same thing and I start to wiggle at the loss of stimulation on my dick.

“I need more Danny,” I say and try to shove his head down to where I want him more. He willingly lets me push his head away from my nipple, but doesn’t go down any further; he instead comes up and kisses me again.

I almost growl into the kiss from being denied more friction again. He starts to let his hands wander down my body and finally grabs my dick in hand. I sigh in content and try to buck into his hand, but he just holds my hips down with a single hand.

I whine and he lets me out of the kiss. When I open my eyes his eyes are almost completely black with lust. I really want him to stop teasing me and just get to the main event.

“I’m going to take you apart piece by piece until you are nothing but a blissed out puddle, and only then will I relent and fuck you so hard you can’t walk for days,” he growls into my ear. I feel a full body shiver run through me at that, but find I’m not opposed to it.

After he growled that he moved his hand to the tip of my dick and slowly stroked down again using my pre as a form of lube. I want to desperately beg him to give me more but I don’t think he’s going to give up his plan anytime soon.

After a few painfully slow strokes I feel something cool hit the tip. I look down and he has shifted into his phantom form and is breathing a small amount of frost onto the tip. I didn’t even feel him move down from my face.

Before I can make any comment he takes the whole thing in his mouth and swallows around it. I throw my head back as I feel my dick start to hit the back of his throat. He gags a bit but continues until he’s nose to pubes.

He just holds me in the back of his throat as he swallows around me and oh god if I wasn’t so turned on I would shrivel from the coldness all around my dick.

“Danny,” I whine high in my throat when he pushes one finger into me with only his spit from before as lube. I reach for his head and pull him down onto my dick and I try to thrust into his mouth and back onto his finger at the same time.

Danny doesn’t even stop me just allows me to continue to fuck into his throat, but then he adds another finger and I would have cum from that if he didn’t grab the base of my dick with his free hand.

I almost sob at getting so close and being denied again. He continues to suck on my dick and thrust his fingers into me a few times before he pulls away completely.

“NOO! Come back,” I whine. He just chuckles and continues to walk to a different part of the room. I whine again and he starts to slowly take off his pants and underwear. I lick my lips at the sight and try to throw myself off the bed to get closer to him.

He turns and is on me faster than I thought possible. He growls into my ear saying, “You are mine.”

I just about melt at the sentiment before he grabs me and throws me up the bed a little so I’m more in the center and not hanging off the edge. I gasp at the manhandling but stay where I am.

“You don’t know what you do to me,” Danny said in the same growling voice as he climbed onto the bed after me. I reach for him and pull him to my mouth again because kissing him is very addictive.

I feel something slick and cold press against my hole again and gasp as it pushes in. I open my eyes and see that I forgot Danny was still in his ghost form. I ground back into the intrusion as it finally slips in.

I groan at the feeling of fullness grinding my hips down till he’s fully seated in me. I try to move so he gets the hint, but he just holds my hips in place and kisses me softly. I growl into the kiss and try to grind down again.

“You are going to sit still and take just what I give you,” he growled into my ear. I bite his lips in retaliation and he just laughs. “Aww is the little bird getting desperate for friction. Don’t worry baby, you'll get it soon.”

He continues to litter my face in soft kisses and rubs small circles into my hips when suddenly he shifts just right and is rubbing against my prostate.

I gasp out and he pulls his hips back and slams back into me over and over into the same spot. I try to match his pace, but with his hold on my hips I can’t do much but take it.

“Danny!” I just about scream. He just grunts and continues to hit that perfect spot. I feel myself start to tense up in anticipation when he stops all movement and grabs the base of my dick.

“NO!” I scream at the denial of my orgasm again. He pulls all the way out and flips me over and shoves back into me. At this new angel he gets deeper and hits just the right spot again.

He picks up his same punishing pace as before and the friction against my insides feels like it’s being rubbed raw. I open my mouth but all that comes out is more moans and gasps.

Chapter Text

The next morning started in a blur of sensations. My body is sore and my mind is nicely numb. I shift and hear a groan behind me and arms pull me closer as the person behind me nips at my neck playfully.

“Stay still unless you want a repeat of last night, birdy,” the voice gruffly said into my ear, punctuated by a small thrust of his hips against me.

“Nooooooooooooo,” I whine trying to get away from the sensations of overstimulation that my body is feeling.

“Then be a good bird and stop moving,” Danny said and pulled me back to him and fell back asleep. I sigh and settle back in looking for my phone to see if I can get anything done.

I spot it across the room and sigh as how far out of reach it is, and unless someone *Danny* lets me go, I’m stuck.
The next time I wake up I’m more aware of how sore certain parts of my body are. I guess I won’t be going on patrol for the next few days. I also notice how I’m no longer trapped by arms wrapped around me.

I look around trying to find my boyfriend and he’s nowhere in sight. I do hear sounds coming from the kitchen so I’m assuming he's making something. At least that's what I hope he’s doing.

I go to stand up and my legs almost give out. I manage though and walk over to where my phone ended up and open it. I see over 100 messages from my family group chat.

Most are cheering for me, a few of them are warnings and a private message from B saying to stop by the cave when I’m feeling up for it.Saying Danny has to meet with a few people.

I can’t stop the groan that comes from me as I read that message. Whether that groan is from my legs holding my weight, or how dry B’s texting is.

Walking to the kitchen I see Danny is indeed making breakfast. I sit down at the counter and lay my head down on the cool surface just watching Danny.

“Good morning, sunshine. How’d you sleep?” he asked with a wicked grin.

“You denied me over and over again and then fucked me last night. How do you think I slept?” I sassily replied.

“Well if you’re this snarky I don’t think I did a good enough job,” He said, setting a plate of food in front of me. I stare at him in disbelief.

“What do you mean not a good enough job? I slept like the dead. I don’t think I’ve had that good of sleep in literal years,” I say after a moment. He just smiled and pointed at my plate full of food.

“Well we burned a lot of calories doing that so eat up. I should probably portal us back soon. I’m surprised your family hasn’t crashed through the windows yet,” he mentioned off handedly. I don’t say anything and focus on eating.

Once I’m done with the whole plate I finally look at him and say, “That might have to do with the fact I texted them where I was and I was OK last night before I threw my phone across the room.”

He looked at me and burst out laughing, “You would do that wouldn’t you, birdy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I didn’t want them to come crashing in and interrupt, or point a gun at you again,” I say thinking of Jason more than anyone else.

“What would Jason do? He can’t kill me, and he already seems pretty protective of you and Ellie,” he said in an offhanded way waving his fork full of food around.

“Just eat your food,” I say as I unlock my phone to see another notification from Jason.

‘Ellie is getting worried about how long you both have been gone.’

“We might have to cut this short. Jay just texted that Ellie is getting worried about us,” no sooner had the words left my mouth than he grabbed me and portaled us back to the same medbay he was in for a week.

Sitting on the bed Ellie was playing with Jason’s hair giving him small braids with what looked like little gems. Jason looks up from his phone surprised.

“That was fast,” he commented but didn’t move any more than tilting his head up to meet my gaze.

“DADDY! Why do you and Tim have similar colors? Did you fuck?” she asked in that cute child way. Jason burst out laughing at the bluntness of the question, while Danny and I just blushed and looked at the ground.

“Ellie, starlight, you can’t ask people that,” Danny said, “but yes.”

“DANNY” “DUDE” Jason and I screamed at the same time.

“You can’t go around telling your daughter you fucked someone,” Jason continued.

“Have I not told you?” Danny looked between us, confused.

“Told us what?” I asked, still bright red.

“I know that I’ve told you she’s my clone. She has all my memories from when I was a child till I was about 16. She may seem like an 8 year old, and that’s long she’s been alive, but she has all my knowledge from 0-16 and she's as smart as I am. Why do you think she’s the way she is?” Danny said, like it explained everything.

“How? Not even Kon knows everything Clark knows,” I said looking directly at Danny. He just shrugged and then started to braid Ellie’s hair the same way he did before all the shit of the last two weeks happened.

I sit down on the chair next to the bed and just watch as Ellies and Danny continue to braid the hair of the person they were braiding.

After a few moments Ellie seemed satisfied with her work and moved Jason's head so I could see. It was beautiful. She braided his hair in multiple small braids with different little gems in each.

Looking closer I see that the gems aren’t gems but water that seems frozen in time. Not frozen like ice, but in the sense that time was frozen on the water droplets.

“Very beautiful. You should consider doing hair professionally,” I say after I notice her looking at me. She beams, but continues to sit still letting Danny braid her hair.

Another few minutes of comfortable silence Danny finishes. She has one braid going from the top of her head to the middle of her back. It’s an intricate design of a mixed fishtail and french braid with gems of ice throughout acting as beads.

“Ok where did you both learn to braid?” Jason asked stunned. Ellie shrugs as if it's not that impressive.

“I have an older sister who has hair down to her lower back, maybe longer now. When we were younger she insisted that I learn how to braid hair properly and she wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Danny said as if he didn’t drop another bomb shell on us.

“You have a sister? Is she safe? Do we need to go rescue her? Is she like you? Scratch that we need to suit up and go get her now,” I asked in quick succession.

“Yes I have a sister, yes she’s safe, no we don’t need to rescue her, no she is not like me in the sense that you’re thinking. But if you want to meet her all you had to do was ask,” he said and then opened a portal and put one hand through it.

When he pulled his hand back through there was another hand in his. The next moment a woman stepped through with long red hair that was definitely longer than lower back.

“Gentlemen, may I introduce to you one of the High Princesses of the Infinite Realms, Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Fenton,” Danny said with a smile on his face. It seems I still have more to learn about him, and I find I don’t mind that as much as I thought I would.

“Little brother, how many times do I have to tell you I legally changed my name when I left for college. It’s Nightingale now. And stop calling me a princess. I’m most certainly not one,” Jasmine said, flicking Danny on the head. He didn’t seem bothered at all and just beamed at her.

“Hi Aunty Jazz,” Ellie said as she jumped into her arms. I chanced a look at Jason and saw him stunned just looking at Jasmine with wide eyes, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

“You’re so pretty,” Jason said dumbly. I snort at him and he elbows me in the ribs.

“Thank you. What’s your name?” Jasmine said looking Jason up and down, “and who’s knight may you be?”

“My name is… Jason,” he said, still stunned and just looking at her.

“What do you mean knight?” I ask when it’s obvious that Jason is not going to.

“Well it seems that he claimed someone in the royal family to guard for the rest of his life/ afterlife,” Jasmine said as if it explained everything. It didn’t.

“What?” I asked again. This time she looks at me then to Danny then back to me.

“DANIEL JAMES FENTON PHANTOM! YOU CHOOSE A CONSORT AND DIDN’T TELL ME!” she yelled at Danny. Oh shit full name.

“Well a lot of things happened in quick succession. We got Ellie out, we went to the papers to get the anti-ecto acts over turned, and I guess it’s taking them a bit to get more information on how it was passed, one of theirs was captured, I over used my powers and passed out and was in a coma for a week. Give me a small break,” Danny said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well from what I was told your consort’s family contacted both Val and Tucker. You should’ve called little brother,” Jazz said as she pulled him in for a hug.

“I had no part in Tucker. I pulled Val here to help with Gotham while we rescued the captured bird. But let’s leave that all behind. I guess I need to introduce you properly to Tim. Tim, this is Jazz, she's the only reason I mostly survived childhood. Jazz, this is Tim Drake-Wanye, yes I’m aware of the irony,” Danny said. I grabbed Jasmine’s outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet you Miss Jasmine,” I say, slightly awkwardly.

“Please call me Jazz,” Jazz said, still holding my hand in a firm hold. She then pulled me closer with more strength then I thought she had and whispered into my ear, “hurt him and I will make your afterlife worse than anything hell or demons can do.”

With that threat, I nod and she lets me go. I didn’t notice but Danny was just watching with his same smirk as he always had when he knew something I didn’t.

“And you,” she said pointing at the door, “stop eavesdropping and get your ass back in here.”
Jason walked back in holding Ellie's hand with his hair still in the braid. He looked a bit taken aback by being called out like that.

“I do believe I asked you a question before you left,” Jazz said pointedly.

“Honestly I don’t know what being a knight means, so I don’t know how to answer your question Ma’am,” Jason said, his accent coming out stronger than before. For some reason it made me giggle.

“ ‘Ma’am,’ have you been spending time with Ma and Pa Kent there Jason?” I asked through my giggles.

“Shut up Replacement,” he said, his ears turning a deep pink. I continue to giggle as he just grumbles.

Ellie then starts floating toward the TV that we have in the medbay as she sees Superman on screen.

“Turn the volume on,” she said, and I scramble for the remote and unmute the TV.

“- overturn laws that the US government passed that made it legal to experiment on beings they didn’t see as sentient or sapient. These laws are the Anti-ecto acts that were passed around 6 years ago and were passed through in the fine text of an agriculture bill,” Superman was saying.

Wonder Woman stepped up next, “The US government has made it illegal to house or protect beings known as Ghosts, but are actually beings from another realm. They kidnapped and experimented on their king and one of the princesses who is only 8 years old.”

“We are here today to say if the US government doesn’t get rid of these laws then we will stop trying to stop the war that the other realm is wanting to wage on us. We are lucky that the King gave us one final chance to make things right,” Flash continued where Wonder Woman left off.

Batman just stood there and pulled up a slideshow of some of the less gruesome images of the torture that the GIW did.

“They also will kidnap anyone who is said to have Ectoplasm in too high of an amount and terminate them. They recruited metas and implanted suicide pills in them to do their dirty work,” Batman said.

You could hear the crowd gasp as he continued to show picture after picture of the torture they called experiments.

“Just last week they took a civilian girl from the streets and tortured her for information she didn’t have. If this is how your government plans to treat its citizens The Justice League will no longer support them and pull all existing support,” Superman finished.

You could hear a pin drop in the room from how suddenly quiet it got. Then Danny jumped out of the bed transformed and opened a portal.

Chapter Text

I stepped out of the glowing portal to see Bruce, Clark, and Wonder Woman (I need to figure out her name) staring at me. I clear my throat and turn toward the silent crowd.

“Good afternoon, citizens of this Earth. I am High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms. As your heroes have said, your government has passed laws that let them experiment on my people. One of the beings they captured was my daughter,” there were murmurs throughout the crowd.
I raised my hand and they stopped, so I continued, “I rescued her with the help of Red Robin and some of the other vigilantes of Gotham. She is thankfully safe and recovering from what was done to her. If I were any other ruler I would have ordered the extermination of your earth years ago when the Ghost Investigation Ward was first created and they tried to bomb my realm.”

There were more mummers throughout the audience from what I’m assuming was Bruce showing more pictures. I turned around and sure enough, it was on a picture of me as a human getting cut open while alive.

“As you can see this agency doesn't care about human life, or life in general,” a picture of them experimenting on a ghost dog and then a blob ghost, “I have been patient and merciful, but my council is wanting a war. I can assure you that war is not what I want.”

I felt Wonder Woman step up beside me and put her hand on my shoulder, “Nor is it what we want King Phantom.”

“But for the war to not happen I need to guarantee my peoples safety, and the GIW is not allowing that. So what say you people of Earth, will you continue to side with the genocide of an entire realm because you personally don’t understand it? Or will you stand on the side of justice and fight against these laws?” I asked.

The wait for a response seemed to take minutes, but was only a few seconds before cries of outrage were heard.

“Let them be!” “Take down the GIW!” “Justice for Ghosts!”

I took a deep breath and turned my back to the crowd to look at the assembled members of the Justice League. I gave a soft smile before I opened another portal and we all walked through to the Cave.

Waiting on the other side was Jason, Jazz, Ellie, and Tim still looking at the TV screen.

“Nice man,” Flash said, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at him and someone started to laugh.

I look over and see Tim almost rolling on the floor with laughter. I sigh and walk over to him. I pull him into a quick kiss and whisper into his ear, “Should I tell them?”

He looked at me then back at the assembled member of the league.

“What is said here is told to no one. It is not written about, it is not even uttered at a prayer. Is that understood?” Tim asked, in his Red Robin voice. With multiple nods and a few curious glances I transform back to my human form and crash onto a nearby chair.

“That was so much,” I complained, “why do politics have to be so hard?”
A few people gasped out at the reveal of the King of another dimension being human, or at least what they perceive as human.

“What? How did you do that, man?” Flash asked, again being the only one to break the silence. I look over at him and then at Bruce who has taken his cowl off and is just looking at the other members of the league.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and Flash, may I introduce you to Daniel Fenton, otherwise known as High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms,” Bruce said. What followed was silence before Wonder Woman walked up to me and held out her hand.

“Nice to meet you Daniel, my name is Diana,” she said in a soft voice. I shook her outstretched hand and then looked over towards Jazz.

“Nice to meet you, but please call me Danny. Only the people who are trying to kill me call me Daniel. Let me introduce you to my sister Jazmine Nightingale, technically a princess of the Infinite Realms, but is human so she denies that fact,” I say pointing towards my sister.

“Nice to meet you all. I assume I will get more proper introductions to most of you later, but for now hello,” she said.

“Hello,” Flash said, then took off his head piece, is it also called a cowl?, “My name is Barry. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“My name is Clark, my wife and I were the ones who researched the anti-ecto acts and decided it would be better to hold a live conference instead of writing an article that the GIW could’ve taken off the internet faster than lightning,” Clark said as he shook Jazz’s hand as well.
I smile as I see Jazz getting ready to rip them a new one, but stop when another portal appears. I immediately transform into Phantom and hold Tim, and Ellie behind me. I see Jason sit up and point a gun at the portal.

“What the bloody hell Batman? How did you even find out about those acts?” a male voice said, stepping through. I didn’t recognize him, but his soul was split into so many parts I had a feeling I should know who that person is, but don’t.

“Constantine,” Bruce said, full Batman voice.

“How did those acts slip past you, and how do you… Hello your Majesty,” Canstantine said, bowing when he noticed me.

“I don’t know who you are, but from the look of your soul I’m going to call you swiss cheese. How did you know about these acts? And a better question: why did you never bring it to anyone's attention?” I said, still on guard around him with Tim and Ellie behind me. I notice Jason still not putting his gun down but his finger is not on the trigger.

“I was one of the bloody bastards who has been trying to find a way to get rid of them before you, or any of your people found out. I guess I failed at that,” he said and pulled out a cigarette. I freeze it before it gets to his mouth.

“Where were you when we called the Justice league 7 years ago when an interdimensional portal opened up in our basement?” Jazz asked, startling everyone.

“Where were you when we called the League because of ghost attacks, where were you when I had to rescue my brother from being vivisected? Where were you when my brother was cloned and had to become a parent at 15 to his clone daughter?” Jazz continued, tears welling up in her eyes.

I want to comfort her, but Jason beats me over to her. He gently wraps her into a hug and whispers into her hair that I’m safe. I don’t know how to feel about that, but push it aside for now.

“You called the league?” Clark asked, sounding surprised.

“Over 50 times,” I said. Clark looked at me then to Bruce then to Constantine.

“When I find out who answered those calls I’m going to tear them a new one,” Bruce grumbled. I couldn’t help but agree, lets hope Bruce gets to them before Jazz or even Jason gets to them.

“And whose fault is it that you decided to not tell anyone in the League about the acts when you found them, John?” a female voice said from behind the now named John Constentine.

“Oh Zatanna, I wanted to handle it quietly to hopefully gain favor from the ghost king,” John stammered out. Something then whacked the back of his head.

“You idiot,” Zatanna said, stepping out of the same portal that John used. The portal closed behind her.

“Sorry about him, King Phantom. If I had known what he had known I would have never let it get this far, so I apologize for his incompetence,” she said as she bowed her head. I nodded at her and lowered my arms from where they were stretched behind me.

“Thank you,” is all I say, not needing to say anything more. She bows again then turns to Bruce.

“Bruce, if there is any way you need help in finding the culprit let me know. I know great ways to get people to talk that don’t involve torture,” Zatanna said, she then grabbed John Constantine oped a different portal and threw him in before closing it.

“Well that was fun,” Barry said, having somehow found snacks. I just nod my head and transform back.

“Oh,” Zatanna said when she saw me transform.

“Is there a problem?” Jazz asked, having calmed down.

“No, I have just never met a ghost who has a human disguise,” Zatanna said looking me over. I don’t say anything and turn my back to her.

“If it’s alright with you all I’m going to take my family and head literally anywhere else,” I say as I grab Tim, Jazz, Ellie, and Jason. “We have things to discuss.”

Chapter Text

“If it’s alright with you all I’m going to take my family and head literally anywhere else. We have things to discuss,” Danny said and suddenly a portal opened and we were in Tim’s apartment.

Danny sags into Tim. I go to reach out but stop as I notice Tim’s got it under control.

“How many portals have you opened today Danny?” Jazmine asks with concern lacing her voice.

‘Man she has such a pretty voice’ my brain supplies unhelpfully.

“Ummm I think I’ve opened 5, but I can normally open more without any problems,” Danny said, now sitting on the couch with Tim in his arms. It’s a bit funny how small Tim looks in his arms knowing how deadly the little runt could be when he puts his mind towards something.

“Danny,” Jazmine sighs, “any how many times have you been to the realms in the last two weeks?”

“I know the answer and you aren’t going to like it Aunty Jazz,” Ellie said from where she was.

“Oh so that tells me everything I need to know. You haven’t been to the realms and have been using your ecto without replenishing it,” Jazz said glaring at Danny from where he was, collapsed in Tim's lap.

“I don’t mean to add to it, but from what he's told us he hasn’t been to the realms in almost a month,” Tim pipes up getting a betrayed look from Danny that Tim just kissed away.

“A MONTH?! YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BACK IN A MONTH? No wonder you are passing out, you’ve been basically starving yourself for the better part of a month,” Jazmine screamed and then collapsed into a nearby chair.
I just look around a bit confused on why Danny thought I needed to be here for this if he only wanted family around.

“Don’t give me that. The only way to get to the Zone safely is through a portal. And I blew up the one Jack and Maddie made when I left. So I don't have access to a portal to get to the Zone right now. And no I’m not going to ask Vlad,” Danny said, aiming the last part directly at Jazmine with a pointed look.

Jazmine just huffed then looked over at me, “and you really don’t know who’s knight you are?”

“I didn’t even know what that was until you called me. I still don’t know what it means to be a knight. Could you explain it to me?” I asked, still feeling out of place.

“Sure, so basically a knight's job is to protect the royal family. Danny’s knight is Fright Knight who he inherited from the last king. I think you're either Ellie’s or Tim’s knight but it’s too early to really tell,” Jazmine explained.

“That explains very little. What are my duties that are expected if I’m a knight? Do they start now or when I die again? How did this happen?” I ask my questions in quick succession.

“Your duties are just to protect the family member that you are knighted to, you start as soon as the person recognizes you as their knight, as for how it happened I don’t know,” Jazmine said, answering all my questions with no problem.

I just look at her then sigh as I go to the kitchen to make something to eat for everyone.

Entering the kitchen I open the fridge and see that there is no edible food. I look through the cupboards and don’t see anything that can be used to make anything. I groan and walk back into the main area.

“Timberella, you have no edible food in this place. How do you survive?” I ask, then actually take in the scene in front of me.
Danny is still on the couch but seems to have fallen asleep at some point in the short while I was gone.

Tim is clutched to Danny's chest and seems stuck. I snort at how desperate he looks to be trying to get out of the hold.
Ellie is floating around and also seems to be almost asleep.

Jazmine is just sitting on the chair shaking her head looking at Tim struggling. Then she snatches Ellie out of the air right as she starts to drop as she falls asleep mid air.

“You know what. I’m going to go shopping so I can make something edible for everyone. Tim give me one of your cards. I’m not spending my own money on you,” I say walking over towards Tim.

He groans and pulls out his wallet and hands me a card. I grin and pocket the card knowing I’m not giving it back anytime soon.
I walk out the door and head to the closest convenience store. I pick up some noodles and some other basic ingredients for some basic pasta dishes. I get to the check out and pick up some candy for everyone as well thinking it may help. At least I hope it will.

Walking back to the apartment I hear a cry from deep in an alley and decide to check it out.

“You ecto scum think that you are so tough now that those stupid so-called Heroes know about us. Where are those heroes now you scum?” a guy in a white suit said as he continued to try to shoot the entity.

I heard enough and pulled out my own gun and aimed it at the person's head, “Right here,” I say as I shoot.

“Thanks,” the entity said and then faded from my view. I felt a sense of peace fall over me and look to where the white suited bastard gone as well. Was that just part of my imagination?

I look closer and see a blood stain where the head would’ve fallen, but not only red blood. I saw some specks of green. At that I ran out of the alley and all the way to the apartment.

“The GIW are contaminated!” I shout as soon as I enter. Everyone shoots up at my loud entrance. Danny wakes up with a start and looks towards me in alert.

“What?” all heads turned towards me.

“I shot one of the GIW agents in the head and he was up a second later. The only evidence they were even there was a blood stain where they fell with green specks in the red puddle. I don’t know what else that could mean,” I explained.

“Slow down Jason. You shot someone? Why?” Tim asked.

“They were beating up an entity that they called ‘ecto-scum’ so I shot them. I thought it was my gun with rubber bullets but it wasn’t, no skin off my back either way,” I said walking towards the kitchen to make food for everyone. Finally.

Chapter Text

“They were beating up an entity that they called ‘ecto-scum’ so I shot them. I thought it was my gun with rubber bullets but it wasn’t, no skin off my back either way,” Jason said and walked into the kitchen, basically saying the conversation was done.

I look at Danny and see the wheels turning in his head. If the GIW are ecto-contaminated and they knew, then they directly go against their own laws. I look towards Jazz and see her mind going the same speed as Danny’s.

“They are hypocrites,” Danny finally whispered. I just nodded because I couldn’t think of anything to say to that.

“What are we going to do dad?” Ellie questioned quietly, crawling out of Jazz’s lap and over to the couch that Danny and I were on.

“Well the first thing we are going to do is go to Frostbite and get a check up on both of us, and maybe Jason. Then I am going to talk with my council and, because they are technically my subjects, they are going to be charged with attempted ending of the High King and one of the princesses of the Infinite Realms,” Danny said.

“What’s going to happen to them after that?” I asked, not entirely caring for the answer.

“Do you really want to know?” Danny asked. I thought for a moment then shook my head in the negative. For some reason I don’t have a need to know in regards to him.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before the smell from the kitchen started to get really good. I stand up and try to walk toward the kitchen.

“Sit your ass down. It’s not done yet,” Jason called from the kitchen. How did he know I was going to walk into the kitchen?

I grumbled and then sat back down. I leaned into Danny as he continued to brush Ellie's hair with his fingers. I hum in content and close my eyes hoping to just stay in the moment for a bit longer.

“Danny,” Jazz started. I opened my eyes and saw her opening and closing her mouth before she seemed to reach a decision and asked, “What’s going to happen to Jack, Maddie, and Vlad?”

“Who’s Vlad?” I asked before Danny could answer.

“He’s the fruit-loop who decided to clone a 16 year old and one of the main backers that helped start the GIW,” Danny said to me then turned to his sister and said, “As for what I’m going to do with them, I’m going to give Jack and Maddie over to the Justice league and send Vlad to Skulker.”

“You keep bringing up more and more names that I don’t know. Who’s Skulker?” I said a bit exasperated.

“He’s one of the wardens in the Infinite Realms who just so happens to want to hunt me for sport. He hasn’t caused me problems for a few months, but you never know with him,” Danny said. I just looked at him and sighed. He’s purposely speaking in riddles to confuse me isn’t he.

“And how many of your friends have you fought? Better question: how many rogues do you have?” I asked, sitting up straight.

“So ghost culture is one of strength so fighting is basically a way to say hello. We all have basic powers, and I’ve told you about those, so fighting is just natural for us. Granted I didn’t know that when the first ghosts started coming through the portal, or that fighting the previous ghost king would cause me to become the king, or that I was a baby ghost in their culture, or that– ” Danny rambled, before I cut him off with a kiss to shut him up.

“For the love of gods, you sure talk a lot there Danny,” Jason said, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of pasta.

“Finally!” I say and go to grab a few bowls from my cupboards. I also grab some silverware to eat the pasta with.

I passed out the bowls and spoons to everyone, while Jason served everyone food. The first bite of food was glorious. I almost moan at the taste. Somehow Jason rivals Alfred for best food.

“This is delicious, thank you,” Jazz said. Jason just grunted but otherwise stayed silent eating his own food. I slowly look over at him and seem to see what looks like a glimmer around him.

“Why are you glowing?” I slap my hand over my mouth, shocked by my own words. Danny, Ellie, Jazz, and Jason looked at me as if I grew a second head.

“What do you mean Tim?” someone asked, I couldn’t tell who as I kept looking at Jason and the glow he seemed to be sending out in waves.

“He’s glowing. It’s not quite a toxic green, but there are specks of green, he’s mostly glowing a deep red and it’s almost, vibrating?” I said the last word unsure of what I was seeing.

“TIM!” Jazz yells and then suddenly all I see is black as I fall back into the couch

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Waking up was slow and almost serene. I feel weightless and surrounded by something. I open my eyes and tense at the green surrounding me. It reminds me of the pits but less toxic.

“Hello young one,” a female voice said from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

“Hi?” I question looking around for anything physical or any kind of landmark.
The being laughs and I see an outline of a being in a long flowy dress. I open my mouth to ask questions, but quickly shut it as the face comes into view.

“Mom?” I say feeling like I was dipped in ice cold water.

“No I’m sorry my child, I am not your mom. I am essentially a manifestation of the realms and took on a form that I thought would cause you the least distress. I can change if my appearance causes you displeasure,” my moms voice said, the more I focus on it the more I can tell the small differences between this being and my mom.

“Yes,” I gasp, not feeling up to talking to something that looks like my mother who abandoned me for her escapades across the world with my father.

The being shifts to a different being that has an even longer flowing dress, pearls, and a face of a woman I almost recognize but can’t quite place.

“Is this form better?” she asks. I nod and relax at the calming voice the being now has.

“Is there a reason you called me here ma’am?” I ask, trying to be as polite as possible in the presence of this unknown being who makes me feel safe. I can’t tell if it's because she looks familiar in a way I can’t place or her voice, but something makes me cautious of how at ease I feel around them.

“The young king,” she starts then stops for a second before she continues, “the one that I chose to rule, is sick. Not in the way you might be thinking, or in any way that can be found by his doctor, but in a personal way. His heart is so big that he will give those who hurt him a second chance and in turn they will cause him more harm.”

I nod showing that I understand before asking, “what does that have to do with me?”

“It has more to do with you than you think,” she said, “you are his chosen consort. Your entire existence is about protecting others. I just ask that you protect the king.”

“Why ask me? There are many others that are close to him that would gladly take this on, why ask someone who has only known him for a month?” I ask, trying to get all the information I can and not rush into a decision.

“You know more than you think you do, Red Robin,” was all she said.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“TIM!” I hear Jason yell from somewhere in the room. I shift and feel arms around my shoulders and a soft weight in my lap. I open my eyes and the room seems to spin so I clench my eyes shut.

When I feel the world stop spinning I open my eyes again and the first thing that comes into focus is Jason with a worried expression. I look around and see that Ellie is in my lap and Danny is behind me with his arms wrapped tightly around my center.

“How long was I out?” I ask, my mouth suddenly going dry. Jazz stands up and walks into the kitchen.

“An hour,” Danny said in my ear. Jazz returns and hands me a cup of water. I quickly down the water and consider my next words carefully.

“It only felt like a few minutes,” I whisper. I feel Danny tense and his breathing stops.

“What do you mean?” Jason asked, “what happened?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I was pulled to the Infinite Realms,” I say and feel Danny go even stiffer and hold me tighter.

“The Realms? Are you sure?” Ellie asks with a small voice curling into me. I just hold her and nod. No one says anything for a few minutes before my stomach makes itself known that I’m still hungry.

Jason stands up and walks over to me with a bowl of the pasta. I let go of Ellie and grab the bowl and shovel it into my mouth. Once I finish and set the bowl down on a side table, and pull Ellie back into my arms, leaning further into Danny who had lightened his grip on me while I ate.

“I might be stupid for asking this but how was he pulled to the realms?” Jason asked looking at Danny then to Jazz.

“I don’t know. The only beings who can pull your spirit out of your body into the realms are the ancients, and even then they have only ever pulled me,” Danny said, he was confused as well on what happened.

“Do you know who pulled you there Tim? Did they give you a name?” Jazz asked. I thought for a moment because the being said they were the realms itself manifested, but I don’t know how to explain the meeting in a way that wouldn’t cause undo panic.

“No name just said they were a manifestation of something, no I don’t remember what. They first took on the form of my mother but when they noticed I was uncomfortable they shifted into a different woman. The woman looked familiar in a way I couldn’t place,” I said finally.

The look on everyone’s faces went through many different emotions. Jason went from confused to tight to thoughtful in a matter of seconds. Jazz went from composed to looking like she was sucking a lemon. Ellie squirmed in my arms at the mention of the being shifting, and I couldn’t see what was playing on Danny’s face but I imagine it looked like Jazz’s.

“Ok so that’s mildly concerning,” Danny said, I turned as much as I could to look at him, “the only beings who I’ve met who can change forms like that are extremely dangerous. Clockwork is one, but he only changes ages not forms, Dorthrea is another, but again she can only shift into a dragon, and newly created neverborns who are just babies.”

“All they said was you were sick, not in a physical way but something else, and that I know more than I think I do,” I said, turning back to face the rest of the room as I try to disappear into Danny’s arms.

“That’s even more concerning,” Jazz said, looking at Danny as if she could unravel the secrets of the universe by staring hard enough. I just shrug and close my eyes as I suddenly got really tired.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Danny said then stood up with both Ellie and I in his arms, “I think we table this for later and all get some sleep.”

There were varying degrees of agreeing hums and Danny floated up to my bedroom. Once he set me on the bed and I felt him curl around Ellies other side I fell asleep.

I woke up to the slight movement at the door and saw Jason. He comes into the room, tosses a blanket over all three of us then leaves.

Chapter Text

“I think that’s enough for today. I say we table this discussion for later and all get some sleep,” Danny said, lifting Tim and Ellie and floating to where I’m assuming is Tim’s bedroom is.

I don’t move from the chair I have claimed and stare at empty space trying to wrap my head around what’s all happened just today.
Danny introducing me to his consort, still upset about not knowing before. The Justice League publicly going against the GIW, Danny going full king mode and saying what the GIW did to him and Ellie.

Meeting a lot of the Justice League in their civilian identities. Learning Danny hasn’t returned to the realms in a month, Tim being called to the realms by an unknown entity, and to top it all off, learning Danny is sick in a non-physical way.

Does that mean he’s sick in a mental way? Would I even be able to help him if it was mental? How long has he been hiding everything he’s feeling from the people who care about him? I have so many questions that I don’t know how to ask.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Jason coming back into the living room and settle on a chair across from me.

“Can I ask you something?” he says quietly. I nod and he continues, “What was your home life like?”

I tense.

“It wasn’t easy. Our parents were obsessed with ghosts for as long as I can remember. I know that it started long before I was born so I can’t say much for that, but growing up they were so obsessed with proving ghosts exist that more often than not they forgot they had children,” I started. I heard Jason take a deep breath.

“Yeah it wasn’t good. They forgot to pay bills on time and had no sense of lab safety. They would keep ectoplasm stored in the fridge, and when ectoplasm isn’t stored correctly it tends to bring food back to life. I tried my best to give Danny the best life I could, but I’m only two and a half years older,” I said, and tears started to fall. Jason stood up and moved to the couch and placed a steadying hand on my shoulder.

“One day Jack and Maddie called us down to the lab because they finally got their portal working. They turned it on and nothing happened. They were both so disappointed that they got into an argument over whose fault it was. I told them to take a few days away from it to calm down and I left.

“My brother stayed down there with two of his friends because they wanted to look at it. I don’t know exactly what happened, but suddenly the whole house went dark and I heard a scream. I ran downstairs and saw Danny on the floor with Lichtenberg scars going up his right arm. I rushed him to the hospital and they said there wasn’t much they could do.

“He thankfully recovered quickly, but Jack and Maddie never came to visit him in the hospital because suddenly their portal was working. Things were peaceful for about two weeks before the first ghost came through the portal. Suddenly we had a ghost hero named Phantom kicking their asses and sending them back.

“We tried to call the Justice League when the first ghost appeared but nothing happened. Over the next year Phantom protected the town from ghosts and every once in a while someone in town tried to call the Justice League and it never went anywhere.

“Our parents didn’t help matters and tried to capture Phantom saying when they finally got him they would dissect him molecule by molecule.There’s so much more that happened, but it’s not really my story to tell,” I finished, now full on crying.

“It’s not your fault,” Jason said, and that caused me to start crying harder. I was silent when Jason pulled me into a bone crushing hug. I held on and just cried. No one has ever told me that before, and now this basically stranger is holding me as I sob silently.

After what feels like hours I calm down but don’t let go of Jason. He doesn’t let go either and instead shifts so we are laying on the couch. I don’t even remember moving to the couch.

“Thank you,” I say softly and close my eyes.

________________________________________________________

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER!?” is the first thing I hear waking up. I feel arms tighten around me as if trying to protect me from something.

“What?” I grumble and burrow into the warm arms. The temperature in the room seems to be colder and my breath comes out in puffs. “Cold.”
Danny is suddenly holding me and I flinch away from his cold skin. He must have noticed because it got slightly warmer.

“Again I ask what were you doing to my sister?” Danny said. I am now more awake and start to squirm in Danny's arms and he sets me down.

“We were talking and then she started crying. I was trying to comfort her,” Jason said, rubbing his eyes sitting up from where he was laid down on the couch.

“And what did you do to make her cry?” Danny said, pulling me behind him as if to protect me from Jason.

“He asked about Jack and Maddie,” I say as I try to walk around Danny. He doesn’t let me but relaxes a bit.

“How did that lead to you two curled together on the couch?” he asked. I successfully got around Danny and sat in the chair I was in last night.

“He told me it wasn’t my fault,” I say quietly looking at the floor. Saying it out loud almost made me cry again, but I held back the tears.

“What?” I hear Tim say from somewhere. I look up and see he is standing behind Danny. He must’ve woken up at the commotion. He held a groggy Ellie who was still rubbing her eyes as if she was still trying to wake up.

“Your brother decided to sleep with my sister,” Danny said over his shoulder.

“No, she fell asleep crying and I couldn’t move her because any time I tried she held on like it was life or death so I ended up falling asleep with her. Nothing happened,” Jason explained. I blushed hard, wanting to disappear into the floor and escape this embarrassment.

“Danny, calm down. It doesn’t sound like anything happened,” Tim said, putting one hand on Danny’s shoulder and walking past him towards the kitchen. On his way he dropped Ellie in Jason's lap who just groaned but accepted the tired child.

“Calm down? He was wrapped all around my sister,” Danny argued following Tim into the kitchen. I sat in silence then looked at Jason before I burst out laughing.

“You think this is funny? Your brother, the ghost king, looked like he wanted to murder me,” Jason grumbled as he started to take Ellie's hair out of the messy braid.

I just continued laughing and managed to say, “You looked the most dangerous being in the face and told him he was wrong. You also told my LITTLE BROTHER that his big sister, who was basically his mom, that you made her cry by telling her it wasn’t her fault.”

Jason cracked a smile at that explanation but then hid it again. We sat in silence as he continued to braid Ellie's hair in a way I never would have been able to do myself.

Tim and Danny come back in and Danny just glares at Jason but doesn’t say anything. I smile at the interaction thinking of how far my little brother has come from when we were little.

“I don’t like you anymore,” Danny said after a minute of staring at Jason. Jason just shrugged as if it was an everyday thing to be told by someone you don’t like them.

“Danny,” Tim said, sighing dramatically, “you can’t just tell him you don’t like them, it's rude.”

“But he made Jazz cry,” Danny huffed back. I guess they didn’t finish their argument in the kitchen.

“It’s fine Timbit. If the King doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like me. It's not the worst thing to happen to me,” Jason said, emphasizing king to make it sound like an insult. Danny glared at Jason again but didn’t say anything else.

“I believe we have other things to talk about because we stopped our discussion last night,” I said changing the subject.

“Oh yeah,” Danny said and turned to Tim, “what else can you remember about the being who talked to you, or anything about what it looked like. Maybe we can figure out where in the realms you were to get a better idea of who you talked to.”

“I already told you about how the being looked like my mom then shifted to someone I almost recognized, but as for where I was, couldn’t tell you. There was just a bunch of green void surrounding me. I couldn’t make out any shapes of land or anything. It was like being lost in the middle of the ocean with no way to tell up from down, or left from right,” Tim tried explaining.

“Well that’s not that surprising, most of the Infinite Realms are green void, but not being able to see anything like land is a bit concerning,” Danny started putting his hand on his chin like he was thinking, “the only beings who have been able to exist without a land or structure of some kind that I know of have been Ancients.”

“You’ve said that word multiple times, what is an ‘ancient’?” Jason asked.

“An Ancient is what you would probably call gods. For example Clockwork is the Ancient of time, you have probably heard him called Kronos but that's not really true. Ancients are concepts given form in a very basic sense of the word,” I explained.

“They are also known as neverborns, because they, like the name implies, were never born; they just started existing when humans or another being gave them enough thought. Like Clockwork is the Ancient of time so any god that people or being believed in that is related to time is a part of who he is. Or like Vortex is the Ancient of storms/ weather so any god whose concept is weather related is part of him,” Danny continued.

“YOU'VE FOUGHT GODS BY YOURSELF!?” Tim exclaimed from where he had decided to sit down with his cup of coffee.

“Ummmm yeah? I mean we did try to call the Justice League when the portal first opened, but you know how that went. But you don’t need to worry because most of them were just trying to fulfill their obsessions,” Danny said, seeming shocked by what was wrong with that statement.

“That doesn’t make it any better!” Tim yelled again. I snicker at the face Tim was making, making him turn toward me in exasperation.

“This isn’t funny,” Tim grumbled.

“Oh no. This is hilarious,” I say back. Tim stared at me dumbfounded, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

“So to sum it all up, what we consider gods are actually ancients?” Jason asked, bringing us back to the topic at hand. I look at Danny and he looks back and I motion for him to talk.

“Yes and no,” Danny said, “Not all gods are Ancients and not all Ancients have a human god equivalent.”

“You’re shit at explaining things,” Ellie said.

“Well I’m not wrong,” Danny said back.

Chapter Text

“Well I’m not wrong,” Danny said. I smile at the simplicity of it all, but then sober up quickly.

“How many Ancients have you fought?” I asked not really wanting to know but almost needing to know.

“Well… I don’t actually know. I lost count after like 7 but that’s because so much else was happening that I couldn’t keep track of it all,” Danny said dismissively.

“7!? You’ve fought 7 god-like beings by yourself with no training?” I asked, startled. He looked a bit lost but nodded like it was something normal to fight gods by yourself with no backup.

“If it makes you feel better once I fought them once they never really bothered me again,” Danny said, and it did not make me feel better at all.

“Not really,” I grumble but drop it, “You know what we need to talk about, the gala you agreed to go to with me.”

“I was kinda hoping you would forget, but a deal is a deal,” Danny sighed and sat down on the floor.

“Wait did you say you had a date before you actually had one? You also never explained how you two met,” Jason interjected, looking between Danny and I before he settled and just stared at me.

“Maybe? And you don’t need to know how we met,” I said defensively.

“Oh no Timberella, now I need to know how you two met,” Jason said leaning forward from his spot on the couch.

“Oh I kidnapped him and tied him to a chair,” Danny said. I turned and glared at him and he just smirked.

“YOU ARE GOING OUT WITH SOMEONE WHO KIDNAPPED YOU!?” Jazz screamed at me then turned to Danny and screamed at him, “AND YOU DECIDED TO KIDNAP A VIGILANTY WHO YOU DIDN’T KNOW? AND THEN MADE HIM YOUR CONSORT? What am I going to do with you?”
Granted she whispered the last part but I still heard it.

“Well it didn’t start out with us being in a relationship. He said he owed me a favor and I needed a date to one of B’s galas and thought why not. Then he turned up on my balcony bleeding and it just kinda went from there,” I defended myself, knowing it was futile.

“Don’t forget the part where you said-” I slapped my hand over Danny’s mouth before he could finish his sentence.

“They don’t need to know that,” I snap looking around the room, but it seems I’m not getting out of this embarrassment anytime soon.

“Was Dickhead right? Did you summon a boyfriend?” Jason asked with an infuriating smirk on his face.

“I did not summon a boyfriend. I was kidnapped and kinda found his competence hot. It also didn’t help that he’s hot and can throw me around like a sack of potatoes," I say to Jason. He just smirks and holds his hands up in surrender.

I groan and bury my face into Danny’s shoulder as he laughs at my misfortune. I would smack him, but find myself laughing at the absurdity of it all.

“So Tim, what made you bring up the gala? I thought it was called off as we haven’t talked about it since I kidnapped you,” Danny said, rubbing his hand up my sides.

I shiver slightly before responding, “It’s tomorrow night. And things like big galas aren’t canceled because something major happens, like the reveal of an entire dimension. I would say we have time to get you more prepped, but with everything that’s happened it was kinda unavoidable.”

“Whatever you say starlight,” Danny said kissing the top of my head, “am I allowed to bring Ellie and Jazz?”

“Nope,” Jazz said before I could answer. “I don’t need my face plastered over every newspaper for a month because I’m at a Wayne gala with one of the Waynes who just so happens to be the boyfriend of my brother, the king of the Infinite Realms, not that anyone knows who he actually is.”

“I also don’t want to go to this gala. It sounds boring,” Ellie said from where she was sitting.

“That answers that without me having to say anything,” I say then look towards Jason.

“Do I have to go to this?” he groans. I shrug but nod at him as he groans louder.

“Technically, it's about you Jason so you not showing up would not be good,” I say, wishing I also didn’t have to go.

“Why did I agree to let Bruce legally bring me back to life again?” he said, I just shrug and stand up with Ellie in my arms. She squeaked and held on tighter before relaxing a small amount.

“Well, Danny and I need suits so if everyone is agreeable, time to do some shopping,” I say and walk with Ellie to the door. I hear multiple groans from behind me and smirk. If I have to suffer, so do they.

I pull up to the shopping district of Gotham with everyone in my car. I find a parking spot and go to get out when suddenly there’s an alert on my phone. Another Arkham breakout. I look at who it was and freeze.

“Change of plans,” I say and pull out of the spot and start heading to the closest safe house, “Joker broke out.”

“FUCK!” Jason yells startling Ellie from where she was leaning against him.

“Tim, what are you planning?” I hear Danny ask, but it seems so far away like I’m underwater. I pull over to the side of the road knowing how dangerous it is to drive while panicking.

I feel Danny put his hands over mine that I just now realized were shaking. I can see him saying something but I don’t hear anything over the ringing in my ears. Then someone puts their hand on my shoulder and suddenly everything comes into focus.

“That’s it Timbo, you’re safe,” I hear Jason say and then I hear Danny’s words of encouragement.

“You’re doing so great Tim. Deep breaths, in hold, out hold. Can you keep taking deep breaths for me,” I hear Danny say and realize that I stopped breathing. I take a shaky breath in and hold it before letting it out.

“That's so good Starlight, just keep doing that,” Danny rubs his cool hands over my over heated face and I lean into the touch. I keep taking measured deep breaths to calm down and it's slowly working.

After a few minutes of just breathing Jason asked, “Want to tell us what that was all about Tim?”

“Once when Joker broke out of Arkham, he got me,” is all I manage before I feel faint again. They don’t know what happened to me and hopefully never will.

“Shit,” Jason breathes and all I can manage is a nod. No one says anything for a while before Jazz breaks the silence.

“What did he do to you to have you react that way? Obviously you don’t have to tell us anything, but maybe it could help,” she offers. I feel the silent tears falling down my face as I whisper back.

“He kidnapped me and tried to make me his and Harley's kid by injecting Joker Venom into me and so many other things,” and that statement alone I know breaks at least two people in this car.

“I’m going to kill him,” Jason and Danny say at the same time, for probably the same reasons.
I don’t say anything but just nod my head and try to lean further into Danny’s hand that’s still on my cheek.

“I’m not against killing him,” Jazz said, looking directly at Danny who just nods and pulls away. I whine at the loss of his hand on my cheek and open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out.

“Starlight, I will be right back. There is nothing in this world that can stop me from avenging you,” he said and in a flash he was Phantom and off into a situation that I can’t do anything about.

I hear one of the car doors open and then someone opening my door. I look up and see Jason standing there with an expected look on his face. I unbuckle and go to stand but my legs give out.

“Easy,” Jason said as he held me up. I blink at him as he gets me settled in the backseat. I grumble out something about how I can walk, but he ignores me.

Once settled in the backseat and buckled Ellie crawls into my lap and hugs me. I hold onto her like my life depends on it, and in this moment it feels like it does. I feel Jazz rubs her hands up and down my arm and whispers small encouragements and tells me to keep breathing.

Jason starts the car and drives towards the closest safehouse. I don’t know what he’s planning, but knowing him it can’t be any good.