CHAPTER THREE
BRUCE WAYNE?
Danny flew over to the Mansons mansion. He had left not too long after the FentonWorks guests left. His mom and dad had launched into showering Dick and Bruce with praises as soon as they were out the door. Danny's exasperation and irritation grew with every given praise. When he had finally had enough Danny interrupted them to let them know about his phone and to ask if he could spend the night at Tucker's to study. After a bit of scolding for breaking his phone again and receiving permission for a study night, Danny used Jazz's weak excuse to escape. Upon arriving at the Mansons he immediately phased through the roof into Sam's bedroom, not bothering to use the front door.
"-take a break and play some DOOM."
"Guys! you won't belie-"
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Tucker fell over backwards from his sitting position on the floor, surrounded by school books and notes. "Don't do that, Danny!"
Sam lay on her stomach across from Tucker, propped up by her elbows with an open history book in front of her, looking at Tucker with unimpressed disgust.
Danny shot down to the floor next to his friends, and shifted back to his human form a little too early and landed with a small thump, nearly toppling over. "Sorry, Tucker. But you guys won't believe what just happened!"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Danny. Jazz told us what happened. We know you weren't just blowing us off."
"She did?"
"Yeah, it's cool, dude. We've actually been compiling notes for you." Tucker jabbed his thumb towards a stack of lined paper filled with handwritten and highlighted notes.
"Wait. That's it? You're not surprised?" His expression slid into a disappointed frown.
"Um, no Danny, we're not." Sam said slowly. "Skulker is always after you and you breaking your phone isn't anything new either."
"No, I mean you're not surprised that I have a brother?"
Sam and Tucker stared blankly at Danny.
"YOUR MOM IS PREGNANT?!" Tucker broke out of his stupor and shouted in shock and slight disgust.
"What?! Ew! No! I..." Danny smacked his forehead and drug his hand down his face. "Okay, Jazz didn't tell you."
"Your mom's not pregnant?" Tucker asked.
"No!" Danny shot the notion down, "I have a biological brother."
Sam's mouth fell open and Tucker scrunched his nose in confusion.
"So, your mom is pregnant?"
Sam chucked her capped highlighter at him, nailing him in the forehead.
"Ouch! HEY!"
"Danny's adopted, you idiot."
Tucker blinked and stopped nursing his forehead. "Oh, right. I knew that."
Sam returned her attention to Danny, who looked ready to implode and explode at the same time.
"You have a biological brother? Since when? I thought your parents said you were abandoned at a hospital."
"I found out today. These two guys came to our house to meet with Mom and Dad. But then it turns out the guys say that they're my biological brother and his adoptive father! Mom and Dad knew who they were before they came over of course, but me and Jazz didn't know because Mom and Dad didn't tell us! And I wasn't supposed to meet them today, but I did and now I'm going to lunch with him tomorrow!" Danny gushed out and threw his hands up in exasperation.
Sam had tried to follow Danny's speedy explanation, but spectacularly failed. "Um, what?"
"Uh, Danny? Could you try that again, but this time in more detail and, you know," he pushed his glasses back into the bridge of his nose. "slower? Because that wasn't even sort of helpful."
Danny rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Right. Sorry."
He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he went on to retell what had happened in detail. Even though his friends were terrible listeners, interrupting him to laugh at him or to rant on the injustices of the ignorance of the adult mind and misunderstanding parents, talking about it with them had helped. The flurry of thoughts and emotions swarming through his head settled into a somewhat manageable mess.
Sam's purple lips thinned into a contemplative line as she processed the information provided to her.
"No one had any idea he existed until, what, a couple of weeks ago? Doesn't that seem just a little suspicious?" She asked in all seriousness, taking the risk of having Danny getting upset at having his brother questioned.
Tucker rolled his eyes, "oh, come on Sam. Not everything is a plot to ruin Danny's life." But before he had even finished he realized that with Danny's recent history his statement could be proven false.
"I actually had the same thought, Sam," Danny paused, looking between his two friends. "I mean it wouldn't be the first time a ghost has tricked us into believing they were human. I know it's not very like that there is anything going on, but..." Danny fidgeted,
A heavy silence followed Danny's statement as they all exchanged glances.
"On it." Tucker reached for his backpack and pulled it towards himself. After a little digging he pulled out a PDA that had odd additions and modifications that were obviously done personally, looking incredibly pleased with himself.
"What is that?" Sam asked, swinging her legs underneath her and sitting up from her lying position.
"She is Nancy. I've been programming and modifying her sense the, huh," He coughed into his fist. "Gregor incident. You know, that guy that Sam thought was hot and Danny thought he was a spy for the Guys in White. You dated him and you spied on them. Then you were both wrong; he wasn't a spy, but he was a liar, a phony, a total jerk, and a-"
"YES! Tucker, we remember!" Danny cut him off, while Sam glared.
"Well, after the phony left I got to thinking: What if someone else suspicious shows up? What do we do then? Same thing as last time? I think not! Behold!" He held up the PDA. "The technological detective that will soon replace all of the inferior and flawed human detectives, NANCY!"
Sam and Danny gave each other a quick glance and they both decided to wait for the inevitable long winded explanation.
Tucker huffed at their lack of excitement and already annoyed expressions. "Don't worry, I'll explain with small words so that you two simpletons will understand."
"Could you also keep you're explanation short? My simpleton brain can only handle so much arrogance for so long." Danny rolled his eyes.
"Fine. I've programmed Nancy to find any and all information she can on any person I tell her to in a matter of minutes."
"Wow, that's awesome!" Danny's attitude made a three-sixty. Tucker puffed out his chest and stuck his nose in the air.
"But what if you are looking for someone named John Smith? Wouldn't you get all the information on all the John Smiths out there?" Sam challenged.
"Yes, but Nancy can narrow the search down if you give her more information on your 'John Smith'. Like, if I gave her John Smith's date of birth, relationship status, current residence, or any other information you might have she would rule out any John Smiths with conflicting information."
"Okay, I'm actually impressed," Sam praised. "But don't you think 'future replacement of human detectives' is taking it a little far?"
"Absolutely not! I'm still working on her! She may not be able to surpass a real detective now, but some day..." As Tucker let his voice drift off, he got a hopeful and longing look in his eye. He sobered up quickly and stated, "I'mAlsoWorkingOnAWayToUseNancyToHackIntoSecureNetworksAndDataBasesWithoutBeingTraced."
"WAIT! WHAT?! WHY?!" Danny yelled.
Sam just looked at Tucker in awe.
"The way I see it Danny, is it's only a matter of time before someone in the world of the living other than the Guys in White notice you or the Guys in White step up their game. So, I thought we might as well arm ourselves against the living the best we can before it becomes a problem."
"But Tucker, that's still very illegal! You guy shouldn't be breaking laws for my sake or, you know, at all." Danny made a fruitless snatch at the PDA.
The techno-genius held Nancy protectively to his chest. "If I remember correctly, your existence is illegal according to the ecto act the Guys in White put in place. Oh, and speaking of, don't you fight with the Guys in White like every time you see them? I'm fairly sure attacking a federal agent is illegal."
"You know I never shoot first!"
"Still illegal. Besides, hacking is only illegal if you get caught."
"Tucker, this is serious! Sam!" Danny looked to her for support.
"Actually Danny, I'm with Tucker."
"What?! Why?"
"The government is after you, Danny. A small branch of it is anyway. Meaning the government is not on our side. What if someone with not so great intentions came after you and caught you? There would be no one (in the living plane that is) to help you, not the police, not the government, not even Justice League. We need to be prepared for that."
"Yeah, but you guys-"
"Are already breaking the law. We're aiding and abetting a wanted felon." Tucker interrupted.
Danny glowered, "I get your point, but I still don't like it."
"Well, get over it," Sam deadpanned. "Tucker can you use Nancy to look up Danny's alleged brother?"
"On it."
Despite Danny's continuing displeasure with the thought of his friends breaking the law for him, he felt a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He had the two greatest friends he could ask for.
"Wait, could search his adoptive father first?" Danny wasn't sure why, but he'd much rather
figure out if Bruce was a fake first.
"Sure, what was his name, Bruce...?"
"Wayne."
"Bruce Wayne? No way. The guy at your house was not Bruce Wayne."
"I'm pretty sure that was his name. Why? Do you know him?"
"Here." Tucker started typing on his PDA and showed Danny the screen that now had a
picture of a man smiling handsomely at the camera. "Is this the guy?"
"Yeah, that's him." Danny nodded "that's a really good shot of him..."
Sam and Tucker stared at Danny in disbelief.
"What?" Danny fidgeted.
"Oh man, OH MAN! Are you seriously indirectly related to the Bruce Wayne?!" Tucker looked as though someone had given him a back stage pass for a Humpty Dumpty consort.
While Sam sat with a look of disgust and horror, similar to the look she would get if someone offered her fried chicken.
"The Bruce Wayne?" Danny asked feeling out of the loop.
"Dude, Bruce Wayne of Wayne Industries! The guy is more loaded than Vlad!"
Danny eye's widened, "s-seriously!?"
His friends both nodded mutely. Danny thought to himself that maybe the look he had seen both Bruce and Vlad give him was just a billionaire thing.
"Do you know how many Wayne galas my parents have tried to make me attend?" Sam burst angerly, "five, five galas. Technically I was able to avoid three of them. But that's two I was unable to avoid!" She huffed, "...The dresses I had to wear..." Sam shuddered. "And he's hosting another charity event coming up this month."
"But more importantly, he's the owner of Wayne Tech! I spent my entire allowance on one of their PDAs last year. She was amazing! Gwen was the best PDA I've owned. She was still going strong when I lost her." Tucker sniffed, "oh, Gwen."
"It's an auction this time and my parents are super determined this time too. I don't think I'll be able to get out of this one without some major sacrifices." Sam mused bitterly.
"She was so young! Her life had just started!" Tucker wailed clutching onto Nancy as though she had been the one he had lost.
"Yeah, that's nice guys, but could we get back on track?" Danny asked with enough volume to pull them out of their musings.
"Yeah," Tucker dried his eyes and sniffed, "do you want me to look up your brother then?"
Danny hesitated before nodding. "Yeah,"
"What was his name again?"
"Dick Grayson, or Richard Grayson, I guess."
"Okay, got it. We just need to give Nancy a minute to do her magic."
Tucker sat with his eyes glued to the screen watching his programs progress. Every now and then he'd frown and start rapidly typing and mumble something that sounded like 'hitches'. As seconds turned to minutes Danny nervously peered over Tucker's shoulder.
Tucker sighed, "Danny, you are and always will be my best friend. But this is going to take a while. So, would you please stop breathing down my neck and let me work?"
"Sorry," Danny slumped back into his spot on the floor.
There were a few more minutes of silence, with the occasional grunt of frustration from Tucker. Sam sighed; though she was perfectly content in waiting in silence, she noticed that Danny was not through his constant shifting and the insistent drumming of his fingers. She decided to try and rescue him from his growing anxiety by distracting him.
"So, Danny... What's he like?"
"Huh? Oh, umm," Danny struggled to pull his head from wherever it had gone and back to the present. "He looks a lot like me... But he's really, really... cool."
Sam raised an eyebrow, "cool?"
"Yeah, like, he's never had a teacher hate him and has never been turned down by a girl before and has a really sick ride kind of cool," he disclosed.
Danny could tell by the sly look on Sam's face that whatever comment she was going to make was going to be at his expense. But as she opened her mouth, Tucker interrupted by calling their attention with an, "alright."
Danny snapped to attention, as Tucker continued, "there was a lot to sort through: tabloids, gossip magazines and other stuff like that. But I've got it narrowed down to relevant information and more dependable sources. Here, take a look."
Danny hesitated for a second before he slid himself next to Tucker to see what he had found.
Thank you all so much for the reviews and PMs! I would seriously have died of an insecurity attack by now if it weren't for all the positive feedback.
Date posted: 11-5-16