Dani's To-Do List
- waffles
- try and stop these information-hungry furry-wannabes from finding out too much
Tim wouldn't be the first to admit he can get a little obsessive at times, but he had at least enough self-awareness to not be the last.
And Tim had to admit this one was getting him to that point.
When Dani showed up, Tim had regarded her with polite interest that quickly turned to genuine fondness for the little chaos bean. It's hard not to love her whole-hearted enthusiasm to experience the whole world and everything in it – when she responds to everyone's hobbies with delight, eager to learn everything they'll tell her.
She is wild and free and good, good in a way Tim feels he hasn't been in a long, long time. The he feels the rest of his family hasn't been in a long time. The closest anyone comes is Dick, and even he has had to make sacrifices and decisions and plans that he deeply regrets even now.
It's as if the entirety of their family has been infected by the shadows they tried so hard to emulate, and Dani is the warm sunshine that clears it all away. Tim will die for her. He'd bleed and cry and kill for her. She's worth that much, worth whatever Tim can give her.
But that doesn't make Tim any less desperate to understand the thirteen year old.
She traveled around the world, but as far as Tim's managed to find, she'd only been doing it for the past two-ish years. She mentioned enough countries and relative timelines for him to piece that much together.
She knows an outrageous amount of languages, but seems to have glaring gaps in all other elementary knowledge – things such as basic arithmetic, history, and science. She's deeply knowledgable about certain interests, but it's obvious to Tim that she's never had basic schooling.
She's never heard of the Cold War, but has heard about World War I. She'd watched a total of two movies before coming here, and had only admitted to reading enough books to count them on one hand. She knows the intricacies of Chinese politics, but doesn't know what kind of government America has. For the life of him, Tim can't find a pattern that places her childhood in any region. All her knowledge seemingly comes from traveling, but she's only been doing that for the past couple of years.
What was she doing beforehand? How was she raised to be so intelligent and competent without learning a single idocum of common knowledge? She didn't know what erosion was until Tim told her. Or what a spleen was.
Dani is a walking mystery, and Tim can't help the need to solve.
But she gives away so little. It's enough to frustrate him, intrigue him, drive him insane. He knew she was hiding something, though not maliciously. He knew it.
And yet, in all of his wildest theories, he had never guessed that she might be dead.
"I managed to retrieve this," the Brat says, interrupting Tim's musing as he surveys the damage. The GIW – an organization Tim never imagined he would ever interact with – had been thorough. Before even Spoiler, who had been patrolling that night, arrived on the scene, every member had vanished. The vans were also missing, save these two: the ones that had been blocking Jason and Dani's escape. As fast as the GIW seemed to be, they still hadn't gotten a tow truck here in time to clear away the wreckage.
What they had been able to do was remotely detonate both vans as if they carried bombs. Cass is nursing a small burn on her arm where she hadn't gotten all the way clear before the explosion.
Tim had been taking pictures of another crash a few streets down that had resulted in an exploded fire hydrant when he heard the explosion, but even if he was there, he still might not have been able to pinpoint what caused it.
Mainly because there was simply no trace of any known explosive materials – at least, any that match in his extensive database.
The explosion had done a pretty good job of erasing evidence. The sun was just starting to peek over what little horizon could be seen between Gotham's buildings, marking the passage of several hours investigating the scene for any evidence they could manage to scrounge together. With what little they had, it would be difficult to discover what, exactly, the GIW had planned on doing.
But the hard drive in Damian's hands might change that.
Tim takes it from his little menace brother without a word, studying the damage. The metal was warped and possibly unusable, but there was at least enough undamaged that Tim could tell what it is. That might be just enough to extract some data from it.
He wraps the hard drive in an evidence bag and tucks it away in his belt.
Dick, in all his Batman getup, approaches from his own inspection of the wreckage. "We've found all we could. I've sent a notice for a crew to pick up the van for storage in case we need it later." Without another word, he turns back to the Batmobile, which had been nearby as a barrier against the open alley in case of ambush and as a convenient getaway vehicle. Damian follows after him like a little duckling, which will never not be cute to Tim. Damian acts like he hates everyone and everything, but he idolized Dick to the point of near-worship.
Tim agrees with Dick, though. They aren't going to find much here. It's just frustrating to gather so little evidence, especially at a recent scene. There should be so much, but the only conclusions they've managed to draw are vague and unsatisfying.
With one last look at the wreck, Tim packs up his camera and calls for his bike. In little under a minute, he's speeding away from the outer skirts and into one of the many secret passageways that lead to the caves below the city.
There's so little known about this government. Tim hadn't taken any interest in them beyond reading the short file Dick uploaded to the Batcomputer in between other cases. As much as Tim tries, it's impossible for him to keep track of everything that's going on in the world. The GIW and so-called "ghosts" were a League issue – something that required less detective work and more politics. Dick hadn't asked for Tim's assistance, and from what Tim read, there didn't seem to be much to investigate.
No matter how impossible it was to have known he should be keeping a closer eye on them, Tim is still disappointed in himself for missing this. Dick is brilliant, but he's also not wired like Tim and Bruce are. He still believes in the good in people, instead of parsing out possible betrayals before trust is even considered.
He's also not nearly as paranoid. If Bruce or Tim were involved, their detective senses would have tingled, and the matter would likely have been dissected weeks ago. Of course, if there wasn't anything to find (which was, even if Tim hated to admit it, entirely possible) he would have been more likely to damage the fragile situation than help it. The King of the Infinite Realms, someone who ruled the space between all multiverses and could likely crush theirs with a flick of his hand, was not someone to upset. And Tim is very good at upsetting people like that.
Also, how were any of them to suspect that the GIW considered someone like Jason a "ghost"?! He may have died, and there was certainly a connection there that Tim would be thoroughly exploring, but he was alive now. Hunting him as if he still were beyond the grave didn't make any sense.
He'd have to review what the government considered a "ghost".
Tim arrives in the Cave after Dick and Damian. They've likely gone to change. Tim will too, since it's nearing breakfast time and he's famished, but first he wants to address the hard drive.
They have a set workstation for extracting data from damaged hard drives and other electronic equipment, so Tim doesn't have to do much. The amount of times they'd had to try and do this exact same thing before with drives criminals had done everything from shot to dipped in acid had the workstation streamlined to be almost fully autonomous. Tim just hooks up the drive, selects one of the programs, and leaves it to its task.
Tim is quick to shower and dress, even beating Dick by a small margin. Despite the head start, the acrobat loves to take his time in the shower, second only to Cass, who took her hot showers as seriously as she did a threat to public safety. He joins up with his oldest brother after putting on a clean pair of sweats.
"Where's Dani?" Tim asks.
"The question of the day," Dick mutters drily, rubbing his eyes. "She's probably up at breakfast. Both she and Jason are gone, but there's no way Alfred would have let them leave so soon."
Jason's docility towards Dani makes a lot more sense, now. They're the same, in some strange, undead way. Was Dani even dead? Just because she had possession of what seems to be purified Lazarus water, that she injects into herself, apparently having done so at least once before, doesn't necessarily mean she'd died, right?
Yeah, Tim wasn't convincing himself either. Unfortunately, the most logical conclusion was, more often than not, the correct one.
Tim and Dick get into the elevator to go straight to the dining room floor, both too tired to take the long way.
In the silence, Tim asks, "Does this change anything?"
"This" referring to Dani knowing their secrets. "This" being the Lazarus water. "This" being Dani's clear superhuman status, the gaping hole in the knowledge of Dani's entire backstory, only emphasized by the events of last night.
"Lots of things," Dick sighs, sounding years older than he is. "But not the most important: she's family."
Tim can agree with that. Even if she did end up being some kind of double agent – which was highly unlikely almost to the point of impossible – Tim would still consider her a little sister. He would do everything in his power to turn her back to their side so they could have more sleepy Sundays watching TV, random traveling stories thrown out around dinner, the random items Dani would come back with after spending a day in the city, the collection of car boots in their garage.
She was theirs, and they were hers. Dick was right: this doesn't change what matters.
Tim hums in agreement just as the doors open, and he and Dick follow the path to the dining room, marked by a delicious aroma of Alfred's sourdough waffles. Tim's mouth is already watering. Even after years of being under Alfred's care, he still manages to be amazed by every delicacy the older man whips up.
"Bruce!"
Tim looks up from where his gaze had unwittingly fallen to the floor in thought. Sure enough, Dick was right: Bruce was sitting at his regular seat, his plate half eaten in front of him, a tablet resting on his left with his attention focused on Tim and Dick.
"Good morning," Bruce greets warmly, one of his uncommon smiles crinkling his eyes.
"Your dad is home," Dani pipes up from where she's sitting between Damian and Jason. She's eating her waffles with chopsticks, of all things, which she uses to point at Bruce.
"Even Drake can see that," Damian grumbles, swatting Dani's arm aside.
Tim ignores his bratty younger brother. "When did you get in?"
"Last night," Bruce replies, his gaze flicking over to Jason and Dani. Jason is also using chopsticks to pick up the already-cut pieces of his waffle, for whatever reason. Tim isn't going to ask; that's what Dani wants, and Tim is too tired for a mentally baffling conversation with her right now. "You all have been quite busy."
"Honestly, the house is still standing, what are you complaining about?" Dick pulls out his seat on Bruce's right and Alfred sets down a plate of waffles for him. "You're taking Batman back. I need a break." He pours a frankly blasphemous amount of syrup on his waffles, absolutely drenching it. Tim takes his own seat and waffle with far more dignity. These waffles don't deserve to have their delectable flavor rewritten with sugar. It's almost offensive.
"Take Batman back?" Dani asks, tilting her head in question.
"Dick was only filling in for me," Bruce explains, his sharp eyes returning to Dani.
"He was doing you a favor?" Dani clarifies.
Bruce nods.
"Where's his thank you, then?"
Jason chokes on the water he was trying to drink, spitting it back into his glass. Tim pauses from where he's cutting up his waffles, glancing over at Bruce's reaction.
Bruce is only startled for a moment, smoothly transitioning into a heartfelt "Thank you, Dick" that the younger man accepts with a confused nod.
"Hmm," Dani says, considering Bruce. "Your thanks needs work. Dick spent three months of his life exhausted because you wanted to go do space stuff."
"Well, it was a diplomatic mission," Tim argues on Bruce's behalf. As if the workaholic would set aside his self-proclaimed role as Gotham's protector for anything other than more work.
"Diplomacy shouldn't take that long," Dani announces, as if it's true. "It only takes that long if you're bad at it."
"That's not really how it works, With-an-i," Jason says, an amused twinkle in his eye. "Political relationships take a long time to cultivate, even more when one side is already offended."
Dani just kind of looks at him, then the rest of them, who all nod in agreement. "It's never taken me more than three hours to settle a political dispute."
As always, Tim immediately searches for signs of a lie. And as always, she doesn't show any of them. Tim doesn't know how much of what Dani says is truth, but he's a little scared to find out that all of it is. It should be impossible… but Dani was constantly proving to him that a lot of the "impossible" is really just "improbable", and she loves to prove it as often as she can.
"How did you do that?" asks Bruce, because he doesn't know Dani yet and doesn't realize what he's setting himself up for.
"There was this whole skirmish over history between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, like there always is, and I made them promise to both knock it off if I found them a more accurate translator for their historical texts. Once they had those, they were way more interested in deciphering old books than they were fighting over invisible borderlines or whatever." She taps her chin in thought, as nonchalant with a bombshell of that magnitude as she is with anything else. "Plus, I gave the leaders Snickers. Something about breaking bread with the enemy? I think they were just hungry. You're never yourself when you're hungry," she lectures, wagging her finger at Dick before stuffing another piece of waffle in her mouth.
Tim looks over at Bruce. He has that constipated look on his face that he always gets when something about a case isn't adding up. The younger detective knows it's because Bruce can't read any dishonesty from the little girl, even though what she's saying is outrageous.
Dick is the first one with the courage to ask, "You solved one of the five major crises in the Middle East? Just like that?"
Dani shrugs. "I don't think it's solved forever or anything. But they didn't want a solution, so I gave them a distraction instead."
"I actually did notice that there hasn't been a lot of news about new conflicts," Jason considers, looking thoughtful. "But why did you put yourself in the middle of that? Tensions like that are extremely dangerous."
"Nothing's deep enough to warrant war," Dani says. "Isn't it super annoying, that people are killing other people for a reason as arbitrary as they don't want to share the same land? Or that someone being different than you is something worth killing them over? If leaders are going to be childish and kill their people for something insignificant, I'll treat them like a child, and they can have their own toy to play with so they leave everyone else alone."
The entire table has stopped eating and is just staring at her, partly in shock, partly in confusion. Dani's thirteen. How is she aware of the political intricacies in other countries to the point of being able to – evidently – solve them, when she doesn't even know who the current president is? It's mind-boggling.
"I mean, I agree," Dick says, rambling a little with the force of his surprise, "but why is it your responsibility to stop the wars?"
Dani looks at him like he's the one being odd. "I was there, why wouldn't I?"
"What Richard is attempting to ask," Damian cuts in, "is why did you risk bodily harm to yourself to step between a long-standing and historically bloody conflict?"
Dani has the actual audacity to shrug, like she doesn't quite know herself. "While they were distracted I got to tour the historical sites they were fighting over. It was pretty cool." She goes back to her waffles, not a care in the world.
Bruce looks at them as if to say, "what just happened?" and no one really knows how to respond to that.
"So, how about we talk about last night?" Dick segues, fiddling with his fork.
Dani glances up at him. "You have three questions. No more."
Dick squawks, "Only three? How is that fair?"
"Why is it fair you guys get to interrogate me?" Dani counters, leveling them with a bold look. "We both had some wild reveals last night. I won't ask you questions, and you won't ask me any. Seems fair to me."
"Sure," Tim cuts in, easily silencing the protests that immediately started rising up from his siblings. Tim knows how to play this game. "But instead of three questions, how about each of us gets one?"
"But that's more than three," Dani counters, eyes narrowed.
"And you can ask each of us one question in turn."
She considers this. "What if I don't want to answer?"
"We get a different question?"
She thinks some more, looking around at her over-eager siblings. Even Cass is on the edge of her seat in anticipation, watching Dani closely for her response.
"Okay. But I have some ground rules."
"Go for it," Tim says.
"Only one for each of you guys at the table. And I can say no to answering it. You have to ask it now while I'm feeling generous, and I get to ask you guys a question in return. You can also refuse to answer, I guess. My questions will probably be easier to answer, though, because I don't like to pry, and I get to think about mine to ask you about later." She gives them all a collective pointed glance. "Hm. And I know you'll want more later, and I'll let you ask, but you can't press me for answers!" She gives them her best stern look. "It's annoying."
Tim is the first to say, "Deal."
"Deal," Dick echoes, closely followed by the other siblings.
Bruce clears his throat, drawing Dani's attention. "Does this include me?"
"I guess," Dani says reluctantly. "Who wants to go first?"
"I do," Damian says, beating the rest of them. Not that Tim minds. He needs to think of his question, try to get as much information out of this as he can. Going last would probably be better. "You and Todd, on the last day of October. You walked into an alley-way wall together, after insinuating that you were going somewhere. Where did you go, and what happened there?"
Dani studies Damian with an unreadable expression. After a long moment, she sighs and sets down her chopsticks. "We went to the Infinite Realms. It's where all living things go when they die. There was a little girl who died the night before, and I promised I would help her cross over. Jason showed up, so he came with us."
"The Infinite Realms?" Dick says. "Is that, that's not – that's where the ghosts are from, right?"
"Is that your question, Richard?" Damian returns, probably annoyed he'd gotten interrupted.
"It's alright, I don't mind," Dani interjects before Dick can retract his question. "Yeah. The Infinite Realms is a transitional dimension between all other dimensions, and it's where ghosts pass through to get to their own personal eternity. I can't answer much more than that, since there's a whole thing about how the living aren't supposed to know about these things until they die, but yeah. Ghosts are what people call the entities that come from the Realms to here."
"Is that all you did?" Damian presses, and Tim's mind is whirling with all this information.
"Umm, let me think. We helped Sara get to her mom, and then we sat on the roof of one of ghost-Gotham's buildings. Jason revealed his identity to me and he said you guys didn't know." She gives Jason the stink-eye, but the man just chews his waffle unapologetically. "And then –"
"Wait, you knew?" Dick interrupts. "Since Halloween?"
Dani nods in confirmation.
"And neither of you said anything?"
"Well, he said you guys didn't know, and it's not my secret to tell."
"Thanks, With-an-i," Jason says, Dick still reeling from the information in the background. Honestly, Tim is pretty shocked too. Mostly because if she knew Jason was Red Hood, why didn't she suspect any of them as being Jason's partners? Is she really that oblivious?
"Anyway… Jason has some nasty ectoplasm, so we stayed in the Realms for a little while so it could filter out a bit. Now that I think about it, I should really ask my doctor how to fix it." She looks thoughtful.
"Doctor?" Damian echoes in question.
Surprisingly, it's Jason who responds. "Apparently doctors stay doctors when they die, and they just become ghost doctors. Only, most ghosts don't need doctors, so Dani's their only patient."
"I'm not the only one," Dani argues. "There are… well, not a lot, but I'm not the only one."
"So if you're not a ghost, what are you?" Bruce asks, looking thoughtful. Tim catches a glance from the older detective, one that belies Bruce's confusion. It makes sense; almost all of the GIW nonsense had happened while he was off-world.
Dani looks at him. "Is that your question?"
Bruce flicks his eyes to Tim, who blinks twice to let him know that is definitely a question they want answered today. The Wayne nods in Dani's direction.
"I'm someone who has crossed the veil and returned," Dani says, drifting her gaze away. Tim immediately notices the evasion technique, a classic representation of withholding the whole truth. Her eyes flickers back up to Tim, as if sensing the direction his mind was going. "I'm a little bit like Jason, but not quite. His revival is the result of a powerful ghost trying to keep him from passing over and a dip in what everyone is calling Lazarus water, but what I'm thinking is really just yucky ectoplasm.
"I'm not going to tell Jason's story or anything, because that's also something that happened in the Realms on Halloween." She gives a nod to Damian. "But what I am is a bit different. Not quite ghost, not quite human. Somewhere in between. It's a bit of a spectrum." She still hasn't revealed everything, and every single one of them can tell. "And I know that answer isn't super satisfying, but I can't say much more."
"Why can you go to the Realms and Jason can't?" Dick wonders.
Dani considers it for a second. "Is that your question?"
Dick shakes his head. "No, never mind. But can I ask why you can't say more?"
"What's dead isn't meant for the living," Dani answers easily. And she effectively shuts down that line of thought with an abrupt, "Who's next?"
"Actually, I want to ask Dick's question," Jason pipes up. "Why can you go to the Realms and I can't?"
"Well, part of it is because I'm a little more dead than you are on the spectrum," Dani explains, either unaware of everyone's visible discomfort of her casual dismissal of her own demise or simply ignoring it. "Another part is that you probably can, but I wouldn't recommend it because the Realms is a dangerous place if you don't know what you're doing. And finally, I have friends in high places. I have permission to come and go as I please, among other things." She grins, a little mischievous, and then sobers. "I won't tell you what else I can do though. Most of it isn't for the living to know."
"Friends in high places?" Dick echoes, and Tim can see the gears turning in his head. "You don't mean… do you know the High King?"
It's almost impressive how fast Dani's expression shutters. Her once easy-going smile is replaced by a grim line and guarded eyes. "Is that your question?" she asks.
Dick doesn't hesitate. "Yes. The League tried summoning him a couple weeks before Halloween to discuss the issue with the GIW, but he completely shut us down. If you know him, maybe you could –"
"Stop," Dani interrupts, eyes harder than Tim has ever seen them. "I know him. That's it. That's all I'm telling you, and I'm not going to help you get in his good graces or whatever. I'm not going to tell you what I know about him, or how I know him, or anything else."
Dick looks a little surprised at her firmness. Tim is too, given that Dani is usually so easy-going. "But if we could solve the issue with the GIW –"
"It's not going to happen on his end," Dani says, just as unyielding as before. "I guess I'll tell you one more thing: the King is doing everything in his power to shut down the GIW. There's nothing more he can do, and I guarantee you trying to work things out with him is just more offensive than helpful."
"But –"
"Don't ask me about him," Dani snaps, and a little bit of green leaks into her eyes. Tim wonders why it's happening now, when no matter how angry she got before, her eyes stayed firmly blue. "It's unfair of me to tell you about him. I won't tell him about you, just like I won't tell you about him."
"Is that a threat?" Damian asks, more curious than abrasive. It's a novel reaction from the historically-bitey teen.
Dani groans, letting her head fall back. "No. I'm trying to explain it. I don't just share people's secrets willy-nilly! My point was that if I'm not going to spill your secrets to him, why should I spill his to you?"
… That was a good point, actually.
Dick looks about ready to argue, but Jason steamrolls right over him. "Okay, we've got Cass and Tim left, right?"
"Am I to presume I do not get a turn?" Alfred asks drily, raising one judgemental eyebrow.
Honestly, Tim kind of forgot that Dani included him in the first place. Jason immediately scrambles to take back his words, reminding Tim of the Jason Before, the one he'd spied from the view of his camera lens several buildings away, embarrassed and rambling to a stoic but clearly amused Bruce.
It's nice.
"You can have as many as you want," Dani informs him seriously. "You deserve all the questions."
"One will suffice, Miss Dani," Alfred replies lightly, ignoring the burning gazes of the rest of the family as they try to urge him to accept her offer. "And I will ask mine after the young miss and master." He nods to Cass, who has been silently observing everything going on, but now looks ready to ask her own question.
Cass holds up her hands, tilting her head as she considers her words. "You throw car," she signs after a moment. "What else you do?"
Dani taps her fingers in consideration, glancing over at Jason. "Jason's stronger than normal people, too."
"We always assumed that was a side effect of the Lazarus water," Bruce muses, his mind almost audibly whiring behind his calculating eyes. "Are you saying that because you are further on this… death spectrum – as you put it – the effects are amplified?"
"Pretty much," Dani agrees. "Everything he can do, I can do better."
Jason rolls his eyes, and Dani grins at him.
Cass waves for her attention, then follows up, "Your eyes glow. Jason eyes glow, he angry. You?"
"Ectoplasm is powered by emotion," Dani explains. "When I get really emotional, it comes to the surface, but I've learned to keep it from doing it so much. Sometimes it's harder in the heat of the moment, it really depends. I was really mad last night, so I couldn't keep them from glowing. Plus, I was distracted, so that didn't help." Dani's eyes flash green. "I can also do it at will. There's just not really a point, besides the intimidation factor."
"But Jason?"
"Uh, his ectoplasm is all messed up. It's saturated with the emotions of people that were dead or dying when they went into this 'Lazarus water', so he's kind of just feeling that all the time. When your eyes glow, it must just be you losing control." Dani shrugs helplessly in Jason's direction, who is taking in the information stonefaced, arms crossed.
"You do anything extra?" Cass adds, satisfied with Dani's answer for Jason, but still pressing for more information.
Dani's eyes flick to the side a little bit. "Uh, yeah, a bit. I just… don't, usually."
"Like what?" Dick asks, curious.
Dani doesn't look at him. "I don't really want to say."
"That's fair," Jason interrupts, not letting them press her. Tim actually appreciates it. Jason has always been one of the most socially and emotionally aware Bat. Without him around, they tended to get a little… pushy, to put it extremely lightly. "Tim?"
Cass flaps her hands again before Dani can move on. "Just one?" Cass asks, giving Dani her best doe eyes.
As it is on all of them, it's ridiculously effective. Dani melts, sighing as she loses her sternness. These same eyes are what got Cass a helicopter from Bruce, despite her inability to pilot them (yet. Cass learned very very quickly when they were spinning out of control during a grade 2 hurricane over the Atlantic. She's just talented like that).
"I can see ghosts," Dani says after a moment of thinking. Tim wonders how much more she can do that she's not saying, but keeps his mouth shut.
Dick perks up from where he'd been semi-sulking from his wasted question. "Are there any here right now?" he asks. "What do they look like?"
Dani giggles a little. "They don't just walk around. Well, usually. I guess sometimes they do. But most are in the Realms. I can call them, kind of, and tether them to the mortal world for a little while. No one else can see or hear them." Dani glances over at Jason. "Oh, I guess you can too. You saw Sara, anyway."
"Kind of," Jason says, tilting his hand in a so-so gesture. "She was really fuzzy."
"That was your helmet," Dani disagrees. "Technology does not like ectoplasm."
…
Oh. OH. Oh, that made so much sense. Tim can see the lights go on in everyone's heads at that comment: Dani's inability to take pictures, to handle a phone, to work any computer made in the last two decades, to play a wireless controller (though the wired one was a little confusing).
Dani keeps going like she didn't just solve one of the greatest mysteries that had surrounded her since she showed up in their lives. "Anyway, I feed them some ectoplasm to keep them here, and we usually chat. They show me cool places or things, sometimes I help them settle their regrets, and then we go our separate ways. It's pretty chill."
"Ectoplasm and technology don't mix?" Dick says, voice excited. "That explains why everything freaks out around you!"
"Yep."
"But what about Jason?" Tim asks. "I guess there is a little interference with him now that I think about it, but Barbara would definitely know more. But if you guys are the same, doesn't that mean he would have a hard time with it too?"
"Uh, I'm no scientist or anything," Dani prefaces, tapping her chin in thought. "But I know that ectoplasm is really conductive. Maybe if his ectoplasm is all tangled up with emotion, it can't conduct as much electricity." Then she shrugs. "I can ask my doctor about it when I see him."
"Are you in need of medical attention?" Damian demands, and Tim wonders if that's what concern looks like on an ex-assassin: aggression tied with sharp intent in his Talia-green eyes.
"Nah," Dani says, waving off his concern. "I'm almost healed. I should be good as new in a couple more hours. But I do need more ectoplasm. That was the rest of my stash." She indicates her and Jason with a tilt of her head. "It's for emergencies like last night."
"When do you need it?" Dick asks.
"I'll probably make a trip in a couple of days," Dani says. "I'd like to bring some tech too, see if it can get ecto-proofed. There's a tech ghost that owes me a few favors. Actually, he's probably who I should ask about the whole ecto-conductivity thing." Then she looks at Tim. "Okay, I'm getting really tired of answering questions. I hope yours is fast."
Tim considers the information they have so far. What they know, what they need to know, what Tim wants to know. He wants to know everything. He wants to ask any one of the millions of questions whirling around in his head and try to make sense of this bright-eyed enigma sitting next to him. But he's a hero first, and Tim knows what needs to be asked.
"We know next to nothing about the GIW," Tim says. "Anything you can tell us will help us take them down."
Instantly, Tim knows it was the right question to ask. Dani breaks out in a brilliant smile, her eyes getting the twinkle back that was slowly dimming from the pressure of the questions. "Now that is a good question. Take notes, Dick!" She leans back in her chair, sending him an easy grin. "I'll actually ask when I'm grabbing my ecto supply. I don't know much about them, since I've only been in America since the beginning of August, but I can definitely find out and bring back everything we know about them!"
Tim wonders who the "we" she's referring to are. Her and the King, maybe?
"Okay, those are everyone's questions, except for you, Mister Alfred. Last one, and then I need a break. I need to see some ocean or something, eat a brownie, think about what questions I want to ask you."
Jason snorts into his hand. Alfred gives him a lightly chiding look before giving Dani a soft smile.
"Luckily, my question is quite simple. There is much that has been revealed today, and I suspect there will be much more to come. I only wish to ask: will you continue to find your home here, even with what you know now?"
Dani pauses, something soft and vulnerable leaking into her expression. "Always," she answers. "This is my home. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."
"As if anyone would dare," Damian scoffs, rolling his eyes. Tim likes watching the look of surprise on Bruce's face as he looks at his only blood-child like he's an alien. "If we were to rid ourselves of anyone, it would be Drake."
What a devil child. "If I'm leaving, I'm taking you with me," Tim retorts. "Drop kicking you on the curb on my way to the streets."
"Tim, you are literally a millionaire," Jason deadpans. "You'll never be out on the streets."
"Billionaire," Tim corrects. He's the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, after all. He's grown his inheritance considerably just by investing it into his own company. If he sold everything, he'd definitely – probably – reach a billion. It's hard to tell since so much of his money is tied up with Bruce's.
"I'm not throwing any of you out," Bruce says, adopting his tired-dad voice. "And technically, Tim, all of you are billionaires."
Yeah, that's true. Bruce had enough billions to give each of them their own billion and still have a bunch for himself. That's just how being the richest man in the world works.
Dani excuses herself, taking her dishware with her. Everyone watches her go, but they can all sense she needs some time to herself. She's smiling, but her eyes are a little watery, and Tim guesses she needs some time to work through all the emotions that were stirred up in the past twenty-four hours.
And as he watches Dani's retreating back, Tim thinks that maybe Alfred had really asked the most important question of them all.
All Tim really needed to know was that Dani will stay.
After all, she's family, no matter what she is, who she was, or how long it takes her to realize it.
I did not edit this. I finished the last half in the past two hours and my fingers hurt from typing. I did Not prepare well for this week's chapter. I've been... otherwise occupied, mentally. I'm not even gonna say why, because then y'all will have to think about it too, and we honestly just need some good fanfic I think. And I am here trying to deliver. So yeah, unedited, but I'll probably go back and fix it tomorrow. Also I won't say much here beyond the notes I made while I was writing, but maybe I'll add more later:
- I didn't realize I was being insensitive about Dani supposedly halting the issues in the Middle East, so I changed it to a completely fictional conflict that I used two random countries near where she would have been traveling at the time. I never meant to make fun of the suffering there, and I apologize if it came across that way.
- there's a random instagram reel I saw where a lady was talking about wars and she was impersonating a random world leader saying "ethnically cleanse this random group of people" and she's like "eat a snack. Go on a beach vacation." and that's the energy I'm trying to give Dani here lol. If you know you know
- Dani calls it the realms because only the Fentons call it the ghost zone. She knows of it as the realms because that's what it actually is, and Ghost Zone is just two rando humans trying to name something that's already had a name for eternity already
- And yeah, technically, the living can't know the secrets of the dead. But when you're the High King, or related to him, the rules can bend a lot. Dani is just using a valid reason to get out of saying stuff they shouldn't know anyway. She can tell them, technically, but she won't.
- Thanksgiving is the next chapter (Dani said she's heading out in a few days, but she isn't. She's going to be stopped by the American tradition of shoving ourselves with food, and she'll go after that