IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CHAPTER 19 (POSTED JUST BEFORE THIS), READ THAT FIRST.
AN: So, as I mentioned, this is a bunch of random scenes from the rest of the story, with some notes (surrounded by ** and in italics) thrown in telling what would happen in between. Thank you to everyone who has followed and reviewed, and I apologize deeply for bailing.
"Since when do we torture prisoners?" Aqualad's raised voice was startling from the usually calm Atlantean.
"He's not even human! It's not the same," Wally defended.
"I am not human. M'Gann and Superboy are not human. Red Tornado is not human. Would you torture them? Do they not count either?"
"But…but…" Wally stumbled, but Aqualad wasn't done.
"He is obviously intelligent, despite Mrs. Fenton's claims that ghosts are nothing but mindless emotions. And he is terrified. And now, you would add physical depravities on top of that. This is not justice. You are all acting too close to this. What is going on?"
Batman put a hand on Wally's shoulder, startling the speedster out of his impending diatribe. "He's right," Batman directed at Wally. Turning back to Aqualad, Batman said, "I am not going to have the Fentons experiment on Phantom. I was going to let him think so, though, to motivate him to answer our questions. Canary has already convinced me that… that was a mistake."
"Why does the ghost care so much about the people who are hunting ghosts?"
"Maybe because they are protecting the city against the other ghosts, like he used to?"
** M'Gann wakes up with Superboy hovering over her in worry. He asks about what happens. She's evasive. M'Gann asks to see Red Tornado and tells him about a G'nome in the base. Hunt ensues. Get rid of G'nome. Speculations… Batman confirms the G'nome was with Mrs. Fenton during the interrogation. He theorizes that that is what frightened Phantom – that word would get back that he talked.**
**Batman talks with Phantom again and tells him the G'nome is gone. Asks why Phantom is concerned about Sam/Tucker/Fentons… Phantom says that Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were helping him fight ghosts before… "And Danny?" Well… he was… but, Danny isn't Danny anymore, he's a Cadmus clone. "What happened to the real Danny?" Phantom won't talk. (until he knows others are safe?).**
Valerie's comm crackled to life. "Valerie?"
"Yeah, Mrs. Fenton?" she responded quickly, picking up a note of tension in Maddie's voice.
"Danny and Jazz are missing." The mother's voice cracked a little at the end. She took an audible breath then continued, "They weren't here when I woke up this morning. I've tried calling them both, as well as checking with Tucker and Sam, and they know better than to go off without at least leaving a note…" Her rambling trailed off with another rough breath.
Valerie checked the time. It was going on 7 pm. Not late at all for a couple of teenagers to be out, but way too long for those two to be gone without telling anyone where they were. Not with the family have a giant ghost-target on their back these last few months.
**Conner and Aqualad go to the Fenton's house to investigate where Danny and Jazz are**
Conner tilted his head as the skittering sound reached his ears again. He made his way over to Aqualad. "I think we have a problem."
"What sort of problem?" The Atlantean asked, becoming alert.
"I think there is a G-gnome in the house," Conner whispered, his eyes roving the room.
"Are you certain?"
Superboy gave a quick nod of his head.
"What would it be doing here?"
"I'm not sure, but I think it may have been at the Fenton's when we were here before too."
"This still doesn't explain why Richard Grayson was kidnapped by Phantom. What is the connection to the ghost?" Batman though out loud.
"I may know why," Valerie reluctantly spoke up. White-masked eyes turned intently upon her, causing her to shrink in on herself a bit. "I didn't say anything before because I didn't know how much Plasmius was involved… I didn't think he would be since Plasmius and Phantom are always fighting each other, so I wouldn't have thought they'd be working together," she rambled under the Bat's stare. "And it's kind of hard to believe so I didn't know if anyone would believe me, and it's super important he doesn't know that I know…"
"What is it?" Batman sharply cut her off.
She sucked in a breath at the reprimand and straightened up, throwing her shoulders back, becoming the confident ghost hunter once again. "Plasmius isn't just a ghost. He's also able to become human – or maybe he's human and able to become a ghost, I'm not sure."
"And you know his human identity?"
Valerie nodded firmly. "Vlad Masters." She could have swore she heard a low growl come from Batman at the name.
"That would explain the ghosts' interest in the business affairs of Bruce Wayne." He turned and paced a few steps. "Are there others?"
"Only one that I know of. A young girl that Vlad experimented on somehow – I never got all the details. She's a good kid though and took off after he tried to dissect her because he wasn't completely happy with the results."
**Skulker shows up saying Plasmius has the Fenton's children. Wants to trade for Phantom. Vlad cliché – "You have something of mine, so I took something of yours. Perhaps we could make a trade." At some point Plasmius is going to harm Jazz and the clone gets in the way and killed. The Team rescues Jazz. **
"The blood the Team found in the woods was a match for Daniel Fenton."
Jazz broke down crying, falling to her knees in front of the ghost shield. Phantom's face contorted in worry as he floated over and sank down to the ground until he was right in front of her. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
"I just want to know if my brother is still alive," she pled tearfully.
The ghost turned introspective for a moment, biting his lip. "Yeah. He's alive," he finally said.
"Then where is he?! Where is Danny?"
His forehead fell against the shield wall. "I'm right here," he answered in an anguished whisper.
Her brow wrinkled in confusion and she jerked away from him. "What?!"
He stared at the floor in silence. Valerie took a step forward and her breath hitched for a moment before she could speak. "Because his name is Danny, too." Valerie became pale as she stared at Phantom, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. She was coming to a potentially horrible realization. "Oh my god, his name is Danny, too," she whispered to herself once more. Jazz turned her confused look to Valerie, so Valerie mumbled, "Danny Phantom. That's his name. How could you not know that?"
Artemis stalked up to Kid Flash. "What is up with you? You seem more concerned about this kid than that we haven't seen Robin in days and Batman won't tell us where he is!"
Wally threw down his plate roughly into the sink and turned to walk away. "I can't do this right now, Artemis."
She grabbed his arm, spinning him back around toward her, and gave Kid Flash a piercing look. "You know him too, don't you?"
"What?!" Kid Flash looked at her incredulously but his rapidly increased breathing gave away the lie.
"You. know. Dick. Grayson," she clarified slowly.
He turned his eyes away from hers to stare over her shoulder and his posture slumped. "Well, um, yeah, we're…friends," he admitted with a sigh. At her questioning look he nervously began to babble, "We met at this sciencefairthingthatwebothattended for school acoupleofmonths ago."
"Kid Mouth, you are a terrible liar," Artemis interrupted. Her gaze moved up a notch in intensity.
Wally panicked a little inside, his brain seeming not to want to work at its usual lightning pace. "No, really! He's my friend, my best friend. And we…"
"Not that part," Artemis scoffed. "The science fair bit. Gotham Academy didn't make it to the science fair this year because of an attack by Scarecrow. And anyway, I thought Robin was your best friend?"
Wally froze and a strangled noise escaped him. '"Uh, oh, well yeah…," he couldn't get the excuses out fast enough, and honestly his heart wasn't in it, the worry for Dick occupying all of his brain power. "…he is also…"
Artemis had tuned out the rest of Wally's babbling as her stare slowly turned to shock. "Wait, you mean he's… but… but…. that's why Robin hasn't been around? Dick Grayson is Robin?!" her voice went up in pitch.
"Shhh!" Kid Flash admonished, looking around to make sure no one else was near to hear. "Oh god, Bats is going to kill me…"
Artemis turned to leave the room.
"Where are you going?"
"To tell the Team."
"What! You can't tell them!"
"They deserve to know. Robin is hurt, possibly dying, and they think he's just blowing them off in Gotham…"
"When was the switch made?" Batman demanded. The ghost's luminous green eyes glanced sideways at Batman for a second, then went back to staring at the wall. "Danny Fenton. When was he switched out with the clone?" Batman repeated, his voice gentler this time.
The change in tone made Phantom finally turn and face him, meeting his gaze curiously. "Two months ago," Phantom stuck to his story.
Batman frowned. "Are you sure it wasn't closer to two years ago?" Phantom frowned, puzzled. "Or are you going to deny that you are the ghost of Danny Fenton?"
Phantom's mouth dropped open and he froze, his eyes darting around the cell as if looking for a way out, but he was pinned by the Batglare. "I… I'm…not…" he tried to stutter an answer out but failed, shaking his head in denial.
"All the evidence I have seems to point towards it. Most likely it was the accident in the Fenton's lab two years ago – Danny was supposedly only mildly shocked, but his mother took him to the ER anyway because she hadn't been present when it happened. From that day on, Danny started acting differently according to her. More secretive, skipping school, declining grades. That was the day Danny Fenton – you – were replaced by that clone, isn't it? You either died there or shortly after, since Phantom appeared a month later. You are the ghost of Danny Fenton."
"No, he isn't," came a voice from the doorway. Batman spun around to find Robin standing there. He was in his costume, looking no worse for wear than if he'd just come from training. His posture may have been a little more stiff than normal, but no one who didn't know him well was likely to notice. "Well, I mean he is," the Boy Wonder continued with a small grin, "but not exactly. To borrow a phrase – it's complicated."
"Robin?" Batman exclaimed, unable to hide the relief and surprise in his voice. It was quickly suppressed however with the knowledge that they had an audience, "What are you doing here?"
Robin gave a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Dick Grayson woke up. He told me everything that happened to him while he was kidnapped, so I thought I should come down here and clear up a few things." He stood defiantly, daring Batman to tell him he shouldn't be there.
They stared-off for only a second before Batman relented, knowing he needed Robin's information, but promising himself that immediately after this Dick would not leave his bed for a week at least.
Batman turned and started to leave the room, but paused when he realized Robin wasn't following. "Give me a minute?" Dick asked, knowing he was asking a lot for Bruce to leave him alone with Phantom, even if Phantom was imprisoned. Batman gazed silently at him for a moment, weighing the request, before turning without a word and stepping out the door.
Phantom gazed passively as Robin moved closer to his cell, floating cross-legged in the far corner of the ghost containment unit. Robin walked up to the very edge of the ghost shield surrounding it, holding a hand out to feel the sharp static charge, and noticing the similarities and differences to Phantom's – Danny's – last prison.
"Dick's really awake? Is he going to be ok?" Phantom asked with a quiet desperation.
Robin nodded with a small smirk. "He's going to be just asterous given a little time."
Phantom started at the odd turn of phrase. He had heard it used once before...
"He's just a scared kid, Bruce," Dick insisted, his mentor's civilian name accidently slipping out as Dick appealed to the Batman's more human side. "A kid who was forced to do horrible things against his will by a villain. We've had experience with mind control before – Poison Ivy, Scarecrow's fear gas, too many others to name really – and you know it's not the fault of the person being controlled. You've told me as much yourself when I've been the one under someone else's influence. Why can't you give him a chance?"
Batman paused and when he spoke his voice was soft. "He hurt you. Badly. I thought I was going to lose you."
Robin's frown turned into a small smile at this uncharacteristic show of caring. "It doesn't change the fact that he was being controlled at the time. Besides, the worst of this wasn't his fault." Robin pointed to his head. "That was falling debris from our second escape attempt."
"Why didn't you tell anyone about… being human?" Dick asked, carefully studying a point in the distance rather than putting Danny on the spot.
"I just thought… if there was any chance of getting out of this, of going back to my life…" he stuttered to a stop, his hands flexing tensely. Then with a sigh he released them. "If I was ever going to go back, I didn't want anyone to know… about what I had done… I didn't want my family to know that I was the one who had done those things to them.
"How can I face them after causing so much destruction and hurting so many people? How can I face my Dad after what I did to him?" His voice broke then dropped to a whisper, "How can I stand the look in his eyes when he looks at me, knowing I'm the one that nearly killed him…"
"You sent the Team after me," Dick said hesitantly, watching his mentor out of the corner of his eye.
Bruce's expression tightened a bit. "I came as soon as I could."
Dick shook his head at Bruce's misunderstanding. "I didn't know if you would send them. What with the risk of them finding out our IDs and all."
Bruce stopped and turned to face Dick, his expression as serious as Dick had ever seen it. "I would have had the whole of the Justice League out to find you, but that would have risked a more public exposure of your identity, and that would only have put your life more at risk." His tone was gentle, urging Dick to understand. "The Team can be trusted. Enough."
"Yeah," Dick said, a new light in his eyes. "Yeah, they can."
"But you had to walk away from bidding on that new technology you wanted," Dick said.
"Yes. Luckily Wayne Enterprises was able to quietly put up some extra capital for Queen Industries to lean on, enabling them to place the high bid."
"Ouch. I know how much you hate losing out to Ollie."
Bruce gave a wry grin. "It was still better than someone like Luthor or Stagg having it. That technology really will change the world."
"Actually, speaking of new power sources… have you looked at how the Fenton's inventions are powered?
Danny hung his head. "I have to tell you something," he said, his voice not quite breaking. Dick turned back curiously. The glowing boy ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I wasn't...," he took a deep breath, "I wasn't being controlled by the red stone when I kidnapped you from the limo." Dick's eyes narrowed behind his mask, but he didn't say anything. "I felt I had to do what he wanted… I had been down there so long… he would have had me hurt my family again…" Danny babbled, only partially coherent.
Dick held up a hand to stop him and Danny fell silent. "When we landed in the woods and I turned around and saw you for the first time, you had red eyes," Dick stated, not quite making it a question.
"When I got back to Plasmius, I was starting to have second thoughts… I don't know if he could sense that or if he just didn't trust me completely, but he had taken control of me again by then." Dick nodded at the explanation.
Phantom stood there, every inch of his body tensed with fear as they walked in. Maddie's brow crinkled as she took him in, trying to reconcile this ghost as her son. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to say something, when Jack rolled in in his wheelchair. Phantom's expression froze and his face paled as he forgot what he was about to say. Jack couldn't help the glare that came to his face at the sight of the ghost that had put him in that chair.
"D…Dad… I…," he stuttered. That angry stare seemed to be too much for the ghost and he frantically looked between his parents and Batman. "I… I can't do this," he gasped out, hyperventilating. With that, he became intangible and flew out through the ceiling.
"Danny, wait!" Maddie called futilely after him.
Maddie raced through the door and up the stairs, her heart leaping as she realized the Booo-merang was heading for Danny's room. She didn't dare hope that he was actually there. She skidded to a stop in the doorway. Danny sat on his bed, the Booo-merang in one hand, rubbing his head with the other. He looked up at Maddie with a lost look, his eyes full of guilt.
Maddie's own eyes were starting to fill with tears. "Danny…" she choked on the words.
He gave an uncertain shrug. "I… I didn't know where else to go." Desperate eyes met hers. "I've messed up real bad. I've made so many mistakes…" Tears finally spilled down his face. "I don't know if you can ever forgive me, of if you'll let me stay… I just… don't have anywhere else to go. This is still… well…," he got tongue tied, his voice breaking. "This is still my home, right?
"Oh, Danny," Maddie whispered. She slid next to him on the bed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Of course it is."
With a small grin, Dick turned back to Danny. "Hey, you never did tell me what your screen name in Doomed was," he half-asked, remembering their first conversation in that underground room. Danny's cheeks flushed as a sheepish expression crossed his face. He mumbled something under his breath that Dick didn't quite catch. "What was that?"
Danny looked up and said a little louder, "Ghostboy."
It caught Dick off-guard for a moment. "Oh," he said, putting it in context of that original conversation. Then suddenly he doubled over laughing. A moment later Danny joined him.