Living Shadow
Rating: T
Pairings: None
Ages: Batman: 28, Danny: 14.
Summary: No one is quiet sure what to think about this figure, that seems to be a bat, who's running around Gotham doing vigilante work. Speculation is abound. Some say he's just a weird man, some say he's a vampire or something non-human because of how elusive and incredible his feats seem. Even after people begin to realize he's probably a man, there's still that one rumor. "Did ya hear the story that Bat's shadow is alive?"
Extra Notes: I followed a Young Justice timeline to know when Batman started his career as well as how many years came between the start of his career and his adopting of Dick. But in general this is a AU of the Young Justice world of the Batfamily. This part/chapter is mostly the set up that will lead to Danny brother fluff with all the Batkids.
Lights from the windows and moon were the only things that illuminated Gotham that night. Batman, known also as Bruce Wayne in the waking hours, was following after some thugs that he suspected had something going on with the Penguin. They had met up with some type of informant, who was giving them info about a shipment that was coming in for the museum.
Everything was going pretty well, until he saw the soaked boy that was walking down the docks. The thugs seemed to notice the youth as well and all three of them stopped in front of his path.
"What are you doing down here all alone, kiddo?" One sneered.
The three men became somewhat incensed when the boy didn't answer them immediately. The child looked up and seemed to be in some kind of daze. "Hm?"
"Tch, I think someone gave him too much of a dose or something," another of the three thugs suggested.
The third chuckled and moved forward to grip the boy's shoulder. The reaction was almost instant, the child let out a cry of fear and surprise and backpedalled away from the men, getting dangerously close to falling into the harbor.
"Whoa, Shut the hell up you little bastard!" The first thug growled and took another step forward. That was all it took for the boy to miss the edge and plunge into the dark water. Seconds afterwards, Batman swooped in, incapacitating the thugs before they even knew what had really happened. In a hurry, the Dark Knight dove into the bay.
It was black as ink down there and without the gear that was installed into his cowl, he might never had found the boy. He was stuck to the bottom of the bay, weighted down by something on his leg that Batman hadn't noticed previously. As he went to grab the child, he realized just how heavy the thing on his ankle was. With great effort on his part, Batman was able to pull the unconscious boy onto the docks. Right off the bat, he checked for a pulse and found a faint one. He pumped the child's chest, trying to get the water out of his lungs and was painfully reminded of how small he was compared to him. From what he could remember, he didn't look like any of the young street kids around Gotham. He had to be from somewhere else and the strange silver anklet was only helping to solidify that theory.
Surprisingly the boy coughed and rolled onto his side, puking up the rest of the water in his lungs. Batman let out a sigh of utter relief, beyond happy that he didn't have to witness the death of a child. It was small moments like these, that the man under the mask wasn't sure he was fully prepared to continue being a vigilante. He leaned down to scoop up the light child and made sure the thugs were still out before sending Gordon a message.
Unfortunately, his plans to use the thugs to catch Penguin in the act of theft were botched, but he could still have these fellows behind bars. He'd have to go back to the drawing board until he could figure out how Penguin would adjust to this alteration in his plan. What the Dark Knight did know, was that he wouldn't give up on whatever artifact he had his eyes on. He'd had to do research to figure out exactly what had arrived.
Batman started to run, boy in his arms, as he made his way back to where the Batmobile was parked and hidden. He slid him into the passenger's seat and then settled into the driver's seat himself.
"Auto-pilot. Batcave. Call Alfred." Batman scowled slightly as he felt the car start to obey his commands. He undid his cape and wrapped the boy in it so that he wouldn't get too cold from the water. Then Alfred's voice came through the speaker.
"How did the stake out go, sir? You're returning a bit earlier than I had expected."
"A change of plans. I've come across a young boy that nearly drowned in the bay. He's not from Gotham as far as I can tell. He also has a strange silver anklet that's heavy enough to keep his body submerged."
"Oh. Well. Will you be bringing him back here, sir?"
"I feel the situation is delicate enough that I can't simply turn him into the GPD. The technology the anklet is made out of seems similar to other inhibitor collar designs I've seen."
"Very well. I'll prepare some tea and food."
Batman heard the communications end and focused on the road as the Batmobile pulled down the secret path, into the Batcave.
zz
A couple hours later, found Batman at his main computer in the cave, looking over missing person reports and anything else he could dig up about his mystery guest. Said guest was sleeping on the medical table, with a throw over him. Batman had just finished taking apart the silver anklet and using what he'd found out from it in his search for info. He'd finally come up with an idea of what had happened. It wasn't a pretty story and filled the man with righteous fury.
"What have you found, sir?" Alfred asked, trying to discreetly place food closer and closer to Bruce's hands.
"I believe his name is Daniel James Fenton. He's the son of Jack Fenton and Madeline Fenton. His sister's name is Jasmine Fenton. He's from Amity Park, Indiana. He went missing three months ago after his parents and sister were murdered."
"Oh my…" Alfred murmured, taking a moment to give a pitying glance at the boy on the table.
"That's not even the most interesting part," Batman muttered, a bit of bitterness seeping into his voice. "At the same time that Daniel Fenton went missing, Danny Phantom did as well."
Alfred looked back. "Wait, you mean-"
"After I noticed their physical similarities, I did some extra research and learned that Daniel stayed in the hospital for several days after an accident with his parents' ghost portal. His parents were scientists that worked for a small branch of Star Labs, called Axion. They were receiving small grants to continue their research."
"So you think that the young Daniel received those spectacular powers from an accident like Mr. Allen did?"
"Correct." Batman clicked a few more keys on the keyboard. "I think I know what happened to his family too."
"Do tell."
"The Fentons were having some arguments with agents from the government agency known as the Guys in White. They're a ghost hunting division that claims they're with the government. They've been getting less and less monetary support and have started to be apart of some questionable transactions."
"Do you think some agents murdered his family and then took the boy because of his powers?" Aflred asked, frowning in sadness when he saw a video at the top of the monitor. It showed Danny Phantom floating through the air and laughing about something. Another showed the ghostly boy fighting off a ghost that had been terrorizing some civilians.
"Most likely. They've have bad run-ins with Phantom in the past. It's possible that they figured out who he was as a civilian and they simply went to his home."
"How dreadful."
"The agency believes ghosts as purely evil entities. I have no idea if that's true, but from what I've looked over, the ectoplasm hasn't appeared to have effected his personality. I'll have to question him myself though, before I'll know for sure."
"Mmmm…"
"Speak of the devil," Alfred murmured and nodded as Batman walked over towards the table. Daniel started to squirm a bit and then slowly opened his eyes. Bright blue locked with the whites of Batman's mask and then Daniel screamed. In one quick movement, he lunged off of the table and plastered himself against a wall. Batman and Alfred stayed completely still as Daniel started to look around and then down at himself.
Slowly he looked up and studied the Dark Knight.
"Do you know who I am?" Batman asked.
Danny jerkily nodded his head. "Yeah…"
"Daniel, do you remember what happened to you?"
Danny looked between Batman and Alfred and then suddenly, his walls crumbled. He started to sob and sink through the floor. Batman moved forward quickly and wrapped the boy in his arms before he could phase through the earth completely. He kept his arms there, even when Daniel flinched.
"I'm not bad. I'm not bad. I'm not bad. I'm not..." Danny choked out.
"I know. It's okay now. You're safe."
"You took the cuff off..."
"Was it blocking your powers?"
"Yeah."
Afterwards, Danny let out a grief-stricken wail. He then clung as hard as he could to Batman's body. The Dark Knight sat on the floor as the boy slowly cried himself into a deep slumber.
"Should I prepare one of the guest rooms, sir?" Alfred asked.
"Yes."
zz
Two Months Later…
"You're stance is off."
"Oh, oops."
"Just because you fly doesn't mean-"
"-that I can forget how to have a proper stance on the ground. I know Bruce!" Danny laughed slightly. "You've said that a million times."
"I'll say it as many times as I need to," Bruce replied and eased out of stance, seeing as Danny had gone to get a drink from his water bottle.
"What good does any of it do anyway since you won't let me help?" Danny murmured, but Bruce heard him.
"We've talked about this, Daniel-" Bruce saw Danny flinch. "Sorry."
Danny shrugged. "It's okay. It's my name. I'll get over it." Danny turned and looked at his adoptive father. "I just want to help."
"I let you help when ghosts come here."
"But it's a rarer occurrence than it used to be in Amity. They only come here now if they manage to find their way through a natural portal or if Vlad sends them here himself, since he has the only man-made portal left that's operational, and of course he hasn't been able to do that as often seeing as he knows you're on to him."
"You don't need to worry yourself with these types of things."
"Please, Bruce. Just a few times-"
"No."
"I'll starve!" Danny cried out, before slapping his hands over his mouth, but it was far too late.
"What was that?" Bruce asked. Though his face was stern, a bit of worry had wormed its way into his heart. Starve, what does he mean by that? Alfred said he'd been eating well. While it had been hard going trying to get justice for what the agents had done since it was hard to prove, Bruce had been able to make some movements towards getting the Anti-Ecto Act reconsidered. The next step was to have the League meet Danny and get on board with the investigation too. If Danny was right about some of the things he'd talked about seeing at their base, then the Act was making it okay to persecute an entire group of people or sentient beings. Other than how long it was taking to get justice, Danny had been fairing pretty well considering what he'd been through. Luckily, they hadn't gotten too invasive in their tests before Danny had managed to escape. So him telling Bruce he was starving immediately was a surprise to the man.
"It's my obsession. I died thinking about wanting to keep people from feeling pain. Because of that and my choices after the portal accident, I developed an obsession with protecting people. I've been keeping it under control by clinging to you and making sure no one tried to hurt you at those big wig events and the ghosts help, but I'm needing more. I don't know why, but my need is growing…" Danny sighed and looked away from Bruce's face. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just thought I could handle it myself."
Bruce was silent as he thought. You've always tried to handle things yourself haven't you? He let out a held breath and kneeled to look into Danny's downcast eyes. "You know you aren't dead, right? You just have ectoplasm bound to your DNA."
"I know I'm not dead now… but I did die. I saw the light and everything…" Danny murmured. Even though he'd gotten very comfortable around Bruce, Danny still wasn't used to the man's different personality when compared to his dad's. The brief thought of his dad and family brought a frown to his face and a flush of sadness.
"I believe your obsession may be growing a bit restless, not because you need to protect more often, but because you need new people to protect. You have me and Alfred, but you need other individuals."
"I get to visit with Sam and Tucker next week, right?"
"Yes, they're coming to Gotham with Sam's parents."
Danny nodded and moved across the room as though to leave and let Bruce go to do his night job. "Sorry I bothered you about it…"
Bruce frowned. Danny always seemed to ready to apologize for everything. "Fine. You can come tonight."
Danny froze and looked over at Bruce. "Really?"
"Yes. The only condition is that you have to hide and operate from the shadows. The longer we can hide the fact that you're a ghost helping me out, the better. We don't want other people coming to Gotham to challenge you."
"You mean like some of Superman's Rogues Gallery?"
"Correct. You still need more training before you could manage those types of things on your own."
Danny smiled. "Deal. I'll be your shadow." Danny scoffed. "Kinda like Johnny Thirteen." He ran over and gave Bruce a surprise hug. "Thanks." The boy then dashed out of the room.
Bruce watched him run off and gave a brief smile. If he could do anything to help Danny heal from his experience with those agents and get his mind off of his suffering, then he was up to it. After all, he was just thankful that Danny didn't seem like the vengeful type. While he wasn't sure what would happen if he saw those peoples' faces again, Danny didn't actively search for the people who had murdered his family and tortured him. That part of Danny surprised the billionaire. He listened; he didn't look for trouble. He just wanted to help. That was all.
zz
That night, Batman prepared to get in the Batmobile and none other than Phantom came up beside him. The boy ran over and got in the passenger seat.
When they actually arrived at a scene of a break-in, Danny sunk into the ground, making Batman's shadow twist a bit and move. The Caped Crusader ran into battle and after that, Gordon couldn't make the crooks shut up about how the Bats' shadow had seemed a bit more lively that night. Some even said the vigilante had finally made a deal with the devil or some dark entity.
From that point on, Batman became even more of a creature of the night and his reputation grew. The fear that came with his name made some less equipped thugs give up immediately. Danny would only grin and tell his adoptive dad that he did a good job, though he would also tease Bruce from time to time about the more outlandish rumors that came with having a living shadow.
The funniest thing was when Danny got to meet the Justice League and had made his appearance by forcing Batman's shadow to grow on the wall and then explode out, revealing the ghostly boy. Danny had geeked out a little bit, because the Watchtower was in space. Batman had merely smirked when his son had run past the famous heroes and plastered himself to the viewing port. Superman and Flash had definitely expected the boy to ask them a million questions.
It wasn't too long before Danny had wiggled his way into all the Leaguer's hearts to some degree. They would definitely be on board for getting rid of the Anti-Ecto Acts.
Eventually though, others were bound to catch onto the addition's existence. Batman's more prominent enemies figured out almost immediately that something was up. It was now a race to see who would figure out the truth first.
zz
"So what is this one for again?" Danny asked as he tried to itch his collar bone without messing up his suit collar.
Bruce smiled down at the boy. "An Ambassador from a distant country has come and the person who's showing him around Gotham decided to throw a grand event. It's mostly just a party to mingle and have a nice night, not much business this time."
Danny blinked and then his face deadpanned. "So everyone's schmoozing about, drunk?"
"Danny…"
"What? It always seems that way."
Bruce merely chuckled.
Eventually Alfred stopped their vehicle and told both of them to have a good night. Bruce and Danny walked into the entrance just as a young man approached holding a couple of flowers. "Here. Everyone's wearing one of these in their breast pocket or hair for the ladies. It's the flower of the Ambassador's homeland."
The man gave the flowers to Bruce and walked off. The two walked forward, to see everyone milling about. Bruce smiled and placed the flower in his breast pocket before passing the other to Danny. The hybrid reached out and touched the flower, only to pull back violently.
"Ouch!" Danny yelped quietly, before pulling his hand to his chest. Bruce frowned.
"Did you grab one of the thorns?"
"No, it just felt like… ugh… I don't feel too good."
Bruce glanced around at all the flowers and then back at his son. He pressed the back of his hand to Danny's forehead, only to feel warmth radiating out from it. "I think I need to take you home. You have a fever."
"Really? I felt fine…" Danny mumbled.
Bruce narrowed his eyes and pulled Danny close before moving towards the entrance again. At the front, Bruce threw away both flowers. Right before they could exit, a man walked over.
"Oh? Leaving so soon?"
Bruce recognized the man immediately as the ambassador the party was thrown for. "Oh. I'm sorry Mr. Galla."
"Please call me Bandar."
"Bandar, we were just needing to leave because my son started to feel ill."
Bandar looked down at Danny and smiled. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Heh, life. Am I right?"
Bandar gave a strange look but still smiled. The small change caused red flags to pop up in Danny's mind. "Yes, indeed. I hope you get to feeling better, young sir."
Bruce nodded and then lead Danny outside.
After they had left, Bandar Galla pulled out a phone and called someone. "It's Bruce Wayne and his boy."
zz
Outside of the building, Danny could feel Bruce's fingers tighten on his left arm and he felt happy that he hadn't been the only one to feel that something was off about that man. Bruce pulled out his cellphone and looked down to type in the number to reach Alfred. It was in that split second that someone came out from the shadows and clocked Bruce in the side of the head.
The next few moments happened quickly. He struck the ground on his side and before he could properly get up, a bunch of people swarmed him. He started to best them, even as they mercilessly beat him. Bruce then picked up the sounds of his son trying to fight against the thugs. Fear prickled in his chest, seeing as Danny still needed more practice as a human. He relied on his powers too much in the field.
Bruce knocked out the man that was to his left, finally giving him a view of his son. Two men had teamed up to grab each of his arms, a third was trying to smother his face with something. Even though Danny was struggling valiantly, it wouldn't be enough without his powers. Then he saw it, Danny's eyes were glowing green. He was trying to phase out of their grip, but it wasn't working for some strange reason.
They knew.
Before he could knock out the next two men that were trying to still separate him from his son, he saw the cloth smother Danny's face and he heard the boy let out some kind of cut off noise of frustration and desperation. Then something struck him in the back of the head and everything went black.
zz
"It must be difficult to hide a secret like his. It is so much easier for one to detect a ghost than it is a Kryptonian or a Martian. You can tell if someone is a ghost from quite the distance if you have the technology."
Bruce slowly opened his eyes and glanced around, noticing he was in some type of cave. He glanced over and saw a man holding the unconscious Danny's chin in his hand. The stranger wore extravagant green and yellow robes and had salt and pepper hair.
"Or, you can simply put a flower in their face and watch them shrink back in terror." The man then pulled a red flower from under his robes and put it in front of Danny's face. The boy immediately jolted awake and turned his head, letting out a hiss.
"Who are you!?" Bruce growled out.
The man pulled away a bit and Danny opened up the eye closest to the action. "I am Ra's al Ghul. Ironically, I am also known as the Ghoul's head or Demon's head. Fitting is it not?"
Danny eyed the man closely. Ra looked directly at the boy. "You have the potential to be the perfect assassin. Silent, invisible, intangible. No one could hide or escape because your human form allows you to move through ghost shields that would stop other ghosts."
Bruce grit his teeth and tried once more to test his bonds. He'd noticed that Danny's were glowing a distinct green. Ra looked at him next. "Forgive me for the accommodations, Mr. Wayne. You see, I need an heir and you have peaked my interest. My hope is that you will consider taking my daughter Talia's hand in marriage and carry on my work after I depart from this world. I have it on good authority that you've quite fancied Talia's company the last few times you've met." Danny noticed Bruce's eyes widen at the name of the woman.
"Talk about a terrible blind date…" Danny muttered. Bruce ignored Danny's terrible joke and eyed Ra carefully.
"If I say no?"
"Well, then I suppose you'd be my enemy, but as you haven't seen too much except for this stark cave. I could let you go, this time."
"Really? Huh, and they say chivalry is dead," Danny spoke. Ra gave the boy a sharp glare.
"You will not go anywhere. I imagine trying to recreate a delicate and complex accident such as yours would be costly and not very efficient; however, from my studies regarding your blood sample you donated while you were sleeping, your condition appears as though it could be passed on genetically."
There was a pause.
"Wait… You want me to… I mean… Ew!" Danny yelped. Bruce was fuming, though Danny had yet to notice that he as working on his bonds.
"You should feel honored that you may be the sire to a generation of perfect assassins." Ra mumbled something else under his breath, "Hopefully we can develop the proper technology to clone you eventually. That would be an even better option..."
"Okay that's definitely a step above trying to force me to become someone's son. I mean seriously, do bad guys have no sense of moderation?"
Ra narrowed his eyes. "It's a good thing that personality and obedience can easily be molded." He glanced at Bruce. "I'll give you a moment to think about your choice." He snapped and Ubu came over. Within a few moments, the ropes around Danny's arms were undone and he was free from the chair. His wrists and ankles were still tied as the boy was slung over the large man's shoulders.
"Hey!"
Ra glared at Danny. "If you do not start learning to lower your voice, then I will be forced to teach you." Danny gulped quietly when Ra placed a hand on his sword's hilt. The man looked at Bruce. "Think about it, but remember that if you stay here, you can stay with your son. Goodbye for now, Detective."
Ra then left and Ubu marched out. Bruce got to lock eyes with Danny one more time before an iron door lowered from the ceiling and struck the ground. He went back to furiously working at the ropes around his wrists. Fortunately, he had a small pocket knife in a pocket on the inside of his slacks. As he sawed at the ropes, he started trying to come up with a plan. He had no idea where they were, he had no weapons to speak of… Then he realized something important. He just needed to free Danny and he could fly them out. If they came across any ghost technology, they could deal with it as it came.
zz
It had taken some maneuvering, but eventually Bruce had found a way out of the cave like area. He'd also knocked out a guard and taken his clothing and weapon. Currently, he was moving quietly through the halls of the compound. He came around one corner and saw that Ubu was guarding a door. He narrowed his eyes.
zz
Danny was starting to get nervous. He had heard that they were wanting to get… a sample from him. There was a feeling of revulsion in his gut from the very idea. He was also worried for Bruce. The man would surely come and try to save him, but he didn't have any of his gear with them. There was a pit of hopelessness that was starting to grow in him. Bruce would get killed trying to save him and then he'd be a slave to these people for as long as they needed him and his… well. He flinched hard when sounds of a struggle from outside grew and then quieted. Keys clicked into the door and when it opened, Danny trembled at the sight of one of the guards. He tried to keep as cool as possible though.
"Are you alright?"
He knew that voice. "Bruce?" Relief flooded his body as the disguised man moved over and started to untie Danny's binds. His arms had been forced above his head by a hook in the wall and so he dropped a bit when he was freed.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Bruce mumbled.
Danny nodded furiously. "You got it."
zz
It had taken a lot of effort and some close calls, but the two managed to slip away from the compound. It had turned out that they had been taken to a place called Infinity Island which was in the Caribbean Sea.
As soon as they had gotten home, Alfred had fused over them and Danny had collapsed from exhaustion from having to fly so much.
A day later, Danny woke up to the sound of cartoons playing on the television in his room. He looked around a bit and saw Bruce was sitting on the other side of the bed in his PJs. He looked over at him and smiled. "You feeling any better?"
Danny let out a tremendous yawn. "Yeah. I sure flew a long way."
"Yes. You did a great job, Danny."
"Thanks."
Bruce then frowned and sat up some. "Did they hurt you?"
Danny shook his head. "You actually came just in time… I think they wanted to take a um… sample."
Bruce let out a huff, trying to reel in his anger. There was a moment of silence before Danny started to tremble. "Danny? Danny." The boy reached over and hugged the man tightly. Bruce felt his face drop in sadness and worry. "What's wrong?" He started to rub Danny's shoulder and back in an attempt to comfort him.
Danny eventually answered as tears tried to form in his eyes. "You could've died. You didn't have your gear."
"Danny-"
"You should've left me and then come back."
Bruce became frustrated. "Absolutely not. I was not leaving you there after what Ra had said."
Danny broke down and hiccuped. "I need to be stronger, Bruce. I can't do that again. I can't. Not again- I can't loose…"
Bruce understood the boy's meaning as Danny started to sob against Bruce's chest. The billionaire wasn't quite sure what to do but hold him and rub his back. He spied Alfred at the door and got a nod from the elder man, which put him at ease with how he was comforting Danny.
It was then that Bruce realized that Danny would always cope in this manner. After all the abuse he'd received at the hands of the Guys in White, all he could manage to do was to live entirely for others and not himself. He'd come to value himself so little that he was desperate to keep those around him that did value him, safe at all costs.
He would need to help Danny work through that the best he could, though he wondered if that flaw in his character would mirror Bruce's own emotional scars and how he coped with them by becoming the Batman. In the meantime, he could provide the training Danny craved.
zz
"So the young master wants to learn everything, does he?" Alfred asked as Bruce started to set up different pieces in his training room.
"Yes, that and I'm going to have to devise some other exercises to help him improve his own powers in the same way. They are a weapon, an extension of his own body, just like an arm or leg. It's a muscle he'll have to practice using, just like all the others. Up until now, he's been using his powers to overpower everyone because they weren't expecting it. Now he finally realizes that he can't always have the benefit of surprise. He wants true skill and precision."
Alfred nodded. "Very well. I'll go and prepare lunch." The man then walked out. Right behind him, Danny walked in.
"Umm… so, where do we start?" Danny asked meekly. He was wearing a white tank and gym shorts, which wasn't too different from Bruce's own attire at the moment.
Bruce smirked and pointed to a bar. "Chin ups."
Danny swallowed. "You picked those first on purpose, didn't you?"
"Do you want to be prepared or not? This is where you make your choice."
Danny stared at the bar and nodded to Bruce. "I was taken advantage of by the media, the government, Vlad, and even my own ghostly enemies because I was a child. I didn't have guidance or help with learning what I needed to learn." He looked at Bruce. "Now I do. I'm ready."
zz
One year later…
"Oh hell! It's the Batman!" Several thugs tried to run off, before Batman pounced on them one by one and his shadow reached out to trip others that tried to flee.
After the thugs had been dealt with, Gordon arrived and started a discussion with Batman. While he was talking to Gordon about his suspicions of the men knowing where another stash of drugs were, he felt something tug at his cape. Once Gordon had walked away, Batman spoke, "Ghost?"
"Yeah."
"Go ahead. Be careful."
"Yep!" Not many would notice how Batman's shadow became a shade lighter.
zz
Skulker didn't even get a chance to fire his missiles before Danny had rushed him and then kicked him into the side of a stairwell opening. Danny flew over and snapped Skulker's head right off before shaking the true Skulker out of the empty head.
"How-?" Skulker squeaked and looked over Danny's hazmat suit which barely concealed his slightly more developed muscle. There was even kevlar added to the design, making Danny look a bit more intimidating in general.
"It took you this long to find a natural portal and travel here since Vlad hasn't wanted your help or really many ghosts help in a while. I've had time to prepare."
With a flash of light, Skulker was captured in a thermos.
"He used to cause me so much trouble." Danny gave a grin at the thought before he sunk through the ceiling and turned invisible.
zz
Bruce finished buttoning his polo shirt as he entered the living room. Danny was splayed out on the couch, staring at the TV which was on a show about ghost hunters.
"Sure you don't want to come?"
"Mmm… I don't really have good memories of tightropes and ringleaders."
"I met Haley the other day. He seems to be a good man."
"I'll pass this time. I'm still nursing that big bruise on my side."
"From that new ghost?"
"Yeah. Last night after the stakeout we did, that Egyptian jackal ghost I told you about? I wasn't expecting him to have that cane appear out of nowhere."
"Eyes. Always be alert."
"I know, sorry. I got cocky. I'll be fine by tomorrow though."
"Alright, alright. I should be back in a couple hours. Enjoy your comedy show there," Bruce replied with a smirk, pointing at the ghost hunting show.
Danny nodded. "I'll look for your tracker on the main computer if you don't show up you know… and yeah-wait." Danny looked at his father. "You just made a joke."
"Bye Danny."
"Wait! You can't just make a joke and then leave like nothing monumental just happened!"
"Bye Danny!"
Alfred walked into the room at the same time that Bruce walked out of the front door. "You will never get him to admit it, master Daniel."
Danny groaned. "Darn."
A couple hours later, Danny would see the news report flash across the screen that nearly all of the Flying Graysons had perished in an accident. He would transform and fly off, trying to find his father whom he'd seen trying to comfort a young boy on the TV.
And that's the end of the first part. I want to know what you think. I'm planning on continuing this one, with a chapter for each Robin, but I wanted to know if people liked the premise.
