Danny landed on the rooftop without making any sound. There was soft thud and air displacement when Batman landed next to him, but Danny ignored him.

They have kept it civil because they really wanted to get this done before he was called back to the Realms, but Danny wasn't very keen on seeing the old man's face right now.

After all, he hurt his sister.

Jason was very open about Bruce's involvement in the whole debacle, and explained as well who exactly was Barbara in this equation and how he could find her. Danny had given the other man a hard time during the unplanned shovel talk, but he could easily tell Jason was as pissed as he was for Bruce's treatment of Jazz, and he respected that.

He was still on probation for the whole "making her cry and making her spill her secrets at gunpoint" business, but for now the guy was making up for it very well. The shine in his eyes as he explained in detail what exactly Danny should and could do for payback was exactly what Danny needed to feel encouraged to start an impromptu prank war on Batman, which he promptly decided to do.

Jazz arrived after work and found them still in the Batburger, plotting machinations that she disapproved of at first, but quickly caved and added her two cents with her observations about Bruce.

Jazz wasn't a stranger to prank wars. She was a Fenton after all.

Terrorizing the old man had been fun and a great way to blow off some steam, which he desperately needed. He had slipped with his chat with Jason, and he was fearing he went too far with the whole eldritch thing, but the guy was just fine and not traumatized so it couldn't have been that bad.

He still refused to talk to Batman if he could help it. Weird thing, the man didn't seem surprised by the development.

Good.

He should be very aware he did something very wrong and was on thin ice.

His only saving grace was new intel Jazz shared at the Batburger — she had struck a deal with Bruce, and apparently the man was going to help her launch her reform programs that the management at Arkham kept shutting down. Of course his sister saw this as an opportunity for her work, but if it made her happy, he was fine with it.

He was still going to mess with the man for a bit longer, though, even when they were on their way to meet The Spirit.

They didn't have a set destination, but Danny instinctively followed the flow of ectoplasm to where it was the most concentrated, and where he knew she'd be a bit more stable to have this kind of interaction.

Gotham Spirit wasn't like your regular ghost — she was born after a dream, an idea, a concept. She had never been human and existed in every brick and every tree and every person within the city. Manifesting as a one singular form took a lot of power and ability, something that an entity as old and experienced as Gotham certainly had, but required a lot of ectoplasm.

Danny watched Red Hood land on the other side of the rooftop with his sister in his arms. He scoffed. Jazz hadn't looked apologetic when she told him she wanted to make the trip with her boyfriend instead of flying with him as usual.

Sure. Let her live her dreams of being swept away by her knight in shining tights or whatever. By the way her face had a slight blush up to her ears, she was enjoying every minute of this.

Danny scoffed and looked away, watching Batman instead. The man was openly staring at the couple being disgustingly cute with that neutral expression of his. Batman was liminal just enough that Danny could sense the underlying sadness he had every time he looked at Jason.

He didn't know the full story, but had guessed from context that both had a complex relationship he didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole, thank you very much.

Batman made a grunt type of sound and finally looked away from the other. Danny glanced and found them kissing, Jazz grabbing Jason's jacket to pull him down and he had a hand on her waist.

"When do you think The Spirit will show up?"

Danny could see the attempt to distract himself away from the happy couple, but he felt a little evil and pretended he didn't hear him, turning to look at the city skyline.

Gotham was a beautiful city — not exactly his taste, but he could appreciate the charm of such an urban metropolis with grotesques on every other rooftop and overall dark aesthetics. Sam would love the place, for sure. Maybe he should bring her the next time he comes over for a visit.

Batman grunted again, displeased with being ignored.

Good.

"Tomorrow—"

Whatever the man wanted to call his attention for was forgotten the second a colony of bats appeared out of nowhere, screeching and screaming as they rushed in towards Jazz and Jason's direction.

Danny knew they weren't dealing with normal animals when the bats ripped Jazz away from her boyfriend and threw her over the edge of the rooftop.

"Jazz!" Jason screamed, running after the cloud of darkness that took the woman.

Danny flew to see what was going on, finding his sister suspended mid-air, already drawing her staff and trying to fight off the bats off her body that were biting and scratching the skin that wasn't covered by her armor.

"HOW COULD YOU!" A disembodied voice growled, distorted with rage and tell-tale static undertones that ghosts usually had.

Gotham, the Spirit, had arrived.

"I HAD ONE RULE!"

Oh boy.

The dark cloud carried Jazz towards a nearby building, through the wall and again upwards towards the sky, landing on the roof. It was a good thing that Jazz's physical abilities were enhanced with her armor on, because blasting through brick walls really, really hurt. He knew from experience.

The Bats immediately grappled closer to the fight, but didn't dare intervene just yet — the murderous colony of bats seemingly multiplied and flew in a storm around Jazz, making it impossible to get closer or help the woman without risking injury.

Jazz shook her head to clear the debris from her face and hair as much as she could, and started flipping her staff around in practiced moves. She knew how to move with a staff, it was her main weapon after all, so she didn't find a lot of trouble with at least keeping the worst of it out of her personal bubble.

"Do something!"

Danny's head whipped away from the fight. "Like what!" He shouted back at Jason.

"I don't know! You are the King! Stop this!"

Jazz screamed in pain, and they turned to watch as the bats finally overwhelmed her, sinking their teeth on her skin and taking flight with her, body and all. Her staff was useless in the air, and the higher they flew, the more she risked falling and hurting herself.

"Danny!" Jason growled, demanding answers.

The young King wished he could do what he was asked. It was his sister fighting for her life right there, but—

"I can't."

"What!"

"I can't intervene! Could be perceived as a power move and make things worse."

"Power move? What the fuck are you talking about? It's trying to kill her!"

Did they have time to discuss the intricacies of ghost politics, haunt protocol and unspoken rules of courtesy? No, they didn't.

"Just trust me, dude!"

Also, technically, Gotham was within her rights here. Jazz broke a promise made with a ghost more ancient than her. She was not supposed to get close to the city's beloved crime fighters.

Jazz activated the electrical tip of her staff and shocked the cloud of bats surrounding her. She screamed, probably because she shocked herself in the process, but it served its purpose — the electrocuted bats finally let go of her and started nosediving back down, freeing her.

She didn't waste time and repositioned her body to dive back as well, her long red hair flapping wildly on her back, eyes fixed on her objective, hands tensed around her staff.

They watched the colony recover mid descent, flying back up to meet her halfway. Jazz placed one arm forward, activating the ghost shield of her arm guards, using the opportunity to cushion her fall back to the rooftop. She landed safely and flipped backwards a good distance away from the bats to regain her breath.

"Get over here!" The voice screamed again, less distorted and more human-like.

Black smoke manifested around the bats as the cloud changed course, preparing to rush towards Jazz. She was ready for them. She had put away her collapsed staff back on her waist and lifted both arms, making a bigger shield that hopefully could withstand the onslaught of the very pissed off ancient Spirit.

When they made contact they heard Jazz gasp as she was pushed back from the sheer force of impact, but she held her ground. Her legs trembled a little bit, and one collapsed until she had one knee on the ground.

Finally, it was too much and the woman was launched again over the edge, but this time something else caught her fall.

Batman's cape was gigantic, and Danny could understand how it became a symbol for the city. It was like Jazz had been enveloped in the night itself and nothing could go through the protecting barrier as she was carried into safety by the vigilante.

The cloud of smoke and screeching bats followed, but froze the moment they realized who exactly had their arms around their target.

The moment Jazz was on her own feet she drew her weapon again, breathing hard and glaring at the murderous cloud.

"My Knight." The voice whispered, static gone, rage gone.

Jason had rushed towards Jazz's side and started checking her wounds, but stopped to watch as the bats and the smoke started to coalesce into human form. It was reminiscent of the visual effect when the Bats manifested from the shadows, as if the void itself suddenly had eyes, then a shape and at last a three dimensional form.

"My Son." Gotham, the Spirit, breathed with newly formed lips.

"Holy shit." Jason murmured under his breath.

Danny watched as both Batman and Red Hood froze in the presence of the personification of their beloved city. It was the woman of the painting back at the Manor, Danny confirmed, so it must be the face of Bruce's mom. She was wearing a long deep black cocktail dress, darker than a moonless sky, that hung down to her feet and blended with the shadows she was formed from, almost as if she remained tethered to the essence of the city even with her humanoid manifestation.

What was the name of Bruce's mother? Martha? Yeah, Danny was sure the name was Martha.

He was still going to call her Spirit or Gotham, just in case. Anything else could lead to confusion.

The Spirit approached the masked vigilante and touched his face with a delicate pale hand, face contorting in what could be called a maternal worried expression.

Batman didn't move, frozen in place, letting the strange and yet familiar woman touch him.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but hesitated, and then the moment was gone.

The Spirit withdrew her hand and turned to glare at Jazz, ignoring everyone else standing on the rooftop.

"You promised." She growled with a static-y edge to her voice.

Jazz had regained her breath. "I know. I'm sorry." She collapsed her staff and slowly put it on the holder at her hip.

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Jason responded for Jazz, stepping forward to place his body between the angry ghost and his girlfriend. Danny thought it was cute.

The Spirit's face softened at the gesture, floating closer to the pair. "My Knight." She didn't stop even when Jason tensed at her approach. "Would you protect her from me?"

He stood still even if it was clear he didn't want that woman touching him. He wasn't wearing his helmet, just a domino mask, so he was caressed on one cheek just like Bruce has been.

"Yes. Without question."

The Spirit purred, considering. The shadows at her feet trembled and morphed as she thought, rivulets of pure darkness floating up until they dissolved like smoke.

"Very well." Danny breathed in relief. "But you can't expect me to be happy with you and the young King flaunting your power like this is your own haunt, girl."

Jazz cleared her throat. "Actually, we wanted to talk about that topic."

Gotham's form shook and her shape blurred for a moment, her mouth curving in an impossible smile. "You dare make demands?"

"Not… Not demands," Jazz tried to laugh the tension off. It didn't work. "We wanted to discuss the possibility of letting me— letting us operate freely in the city—"

"HOW DARE YOU!"

The human form exploded in a cloud of bats, but this time they didn't hurt anybody, they just flew around the group, screeching.

"If you could give me a minute—"

"You come into my city and dare—!"

"Listen to me."

" — prance around like it belongs to you!"

Danny and Jazz shared a look.

Jason stepped closer to Jazz, watching the flying cloud of murderous bats.

"B, do something. She likes you."

Batman didn't hesitate and moved closer to the pair, positioning on the other side of the young woman. Jazz ended up protected, sandwiched between the two vigilantes.

"There's a threat coming." The Dark Knight said. The bats slowed down, listening. "And only these two can help us. Hear what they have to say."

The colony screeched one more time before they gathered again into the shape of Martha Wayne. She stood there observing the Princess, unblinking and unmoving, with one hand on the pearl necklace resting on her chest.

"A threat?"

"You don't know them. They call themselves the Ghost Investigation Ward, and are after anyone that has been death touched." The Spirit's eyes sharpened, glowing with power. "Yes. Anyone. Including your Knights."

"I can stop them."

Danny intervened. "Vlad Plasmius may show up as well."

The smoke cracked like a bonfire, and a strong smell of burning rubber and chemicals filled their noses.

"Plasmius?"

"You know him?"

She turned towards Danny, her eyes glowing red and dangerous. "I know of him. I don't want that… man," she twisted her mouth in distaste, "in my city."

The siblings looked at each other and nodded. "We'll deal with him. If—"

"No."

"No?"

She floated away, the horrible smell followed her. "I don't want any of you in my city either. You have caused enough harm as it is. Leave."

She made a dismissive gesture and turned away, deeming the conversation over.

"What?" Danny heard Jason whisper.

"I'm sorry, my Lady, but I just can't accept that." Jazz stepped forward.

The burned rubber smell was back. Gotham looked over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised.

"You have done enough. Leave." This time, the word had an added Command to it. Jazz stumbled but held her ground. This made the Spirit fully turn around to face her.

"No."

The Spirit's eyes glowed brighter as she stared down the Princess.

"Leave. My. City."

"I won't leave this city—" Jazz lifted her staff just in time to parry some kind of projectile Gotham threw at her. It vanished in a cloud of dark smoke that smelled like car exhaust. "I won't leave this city, and I won't leave its people. What's coming is dangerous and we want to help you."

"I don't need—"

"Yes you do! How can I stand by and watch how they take all the death-touched that are under your protection? How can you?"

"I can protect them."

"Can you?"

The Spirit didn't like her comment, her body starting to lose its shape again. But didn't respond.

"Let me help you protect them. You know I can. You know who I am." She stepped closer to the Spirit, eyes fixed on the powerful ghost, unflinching. The fiery tips of her mask ignited with determination, fire extending to make a perfect circle of flames above her head. "You know I can protect what matters the most to us."

Gotham's red eyes briefly found the quiet figures of the vigilantes behind Jazz, who were watching the exchange with bated breath. Maybe they understood the importance of the situation, the gravity of what was happening. Openly challenging an ancient ghost like Gotham, in her own haunt, was a highly frowned upon offense. If the Spirit wanted to smite Jazz there was nothing Danny could do.

He watched his sister, stomping down the impulse to jump in and protect her. He had seen her square up against big threats, against a whole army, but he wasn't used to seeing her dive headfirst into a fight she couldn't win.

She really wanted to stay, huh.

Danny looked at Jason, the reason why they were in this mess in the first place. That man better understood how much his sister was risking with this confrontation.

"You are a child." Danny cringed at the condescending tone. By ghost standards, it was technically true. He knew Jazz hated it almost as much as he did.

But she wasn't fazed.

Jazz did a flourish with her staff and slammed it against the concrete roof, releasing a wave of power, her power, amplified by the magical properties of her armor. Danny and Gotham were unaffected, but he saw the vigilantes take a slight step back.

Huh. Interesting.

"I am Crown Princess Jasmine. I've protected the Keep against invading forces for seven days and seven nights straight. I've battled alongside the Ancient Pandora, and trained by the Amazons residing in the Infinite Realms." She slammed her staff again, another wave of raw power coursing through the city skyline. Her hair was lifted by the stream of energy, flowing around her body like a fiery halo. "I'm not a mere child, my Lady, and I'm ready to risk my own life, my own blood, to protect this city. I will stay." She marched closer, extending her hand. "Do we have a deal?"

Gotham made a face, barely giving Jazz's hand a spared glance. Instead, she turned around and floated closer to the edge as if she was getting ready to jump.

Danny wanted to scoff. What a stubborn ghost. Just like its protectors.

"Very well," she said, words carried by the wind. "You can stay. But," she looked over her shoulder, "you must do one thing for me, if you are so fixated on 'helping me'."

"Anything."

Danny's eyebrows went to his hairline. That was a very, very dangerous thing to say. You just don't promise "anything" to a ghost, even less to someone like the Gotham Spirit.

"There's a vortex of corrupted ectoplasm hidden in my city. Find it, neutralize it, and I will be forever in your debt, Princess. Good night and—

" — good luck."

The last parting words were lost in the sound of flapping wings of the flurry of bats Gotham finally surrendered to. The colony flew up to the sky, vanishing among the dark clouds.

"Whew!" Jazz whistled. "That could have gone better."

Danny turned away from the sky to look at his sister in disbelief. "What the fuck, Jazz?"

"What?

"What do you mean 'what'?" He lifted his hands. Unbelievable. "You just— That was such— Why?"

She chuckled, her voice weak. "I… don't know? It just happened."

Danny wanted to get the bottom of how could his sister, always so obsessed with following protocol and rules, do a stand off with a whole freaking city just like that; but said sister was whisked away by two hundred pounds of vigilante.

Jason was laughing without caring who may listen, holding Jazz by her waist up in the air, spinning in place with her in his arms.

"That was amazing!"

Jazz laughed with him, placing her hands on his shoulders. Her cheeks were colored, probably from embarrassment at being at the center of such a spectacle.

"Oh, well."

Jason stopped spinning and placed her on her feet, but immediately captured her and flushed her against his chest instead, reaching for a deep kiss that dipped Jazz backwards.

Danny looked away from such a cheesy moment.

Batman ignored the show and had already approached the point from where Gotham disappeared. He placed one knee on the roof and reached for the concrete, but there was nothing on it. No stain or mark that there had ever been a ghost formed from soot and smoke.

"It really was her." He murmured under his breath.

Danny knew he wasn't supposed to hear that, but the alternative of engaging with Batman was watching his sister exchange bodily fluids with her boyfriend and hmmm no thanks.

He sighed.

"It's not your mother."

"I know." Danny didn't flinch at the tone. "I know."

Danny crouched beside the man. "Was she what you expected?"

He thought about the question for a second. "I don't know. She looked like my mother, but there was nothing of her. She was hurt and distrustful. Cautious."

Danny hoped the man could see the similarities between the city and its protector, but chose to bite his tongue and not comment on it.

"The corrupted vortex of ectoplasm." Batman said out of the blue, standing back up. "I think I know what she was talking about."

Just like that, the man was all business and no fun. Almost made Danny want to go back to giving him the cold shoulder and ignore him the rest of his stay in Gotham.

"What do you mean?" Jazz asked, tuning into the conversation. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks were still flushed.

"I've had my suspicions but I never had enough proof to investigate."

"What?"

He looked at his son. "There's a Lazarus Pit here, in Gotham." He looked at Jazz. "And I think I know where it is."