Author's Note:
A few things of note here... I'm going to be working on some other projects and hopefully getting my Kofi up and running more. I'm really bad at mantaining things. Cancer fucking sucks, but at least I'm slowly healing and cancer free. I mention it because I've been mostly dead for the past week, it's been a bad pain week and I'm just tired.
Also I will be finishing active stories on here, but any sequels or new fics will be soley uploaded to AO3. I just find the platform easier to use.
Please stop posting reviews and sending me DMs about how you want me to commission you for art about my story. You all have lovely artistic talents, but I'm not in a financial position to spend any money on it. As mentioned previously, I had cancer, I'm not currently working and have 0 money to spend on commissions. Plus, when most people are parroting the same lines over and over I'm beginning to suspect spam more than anything and it's a bit disheartening.
The comission spam is another reason why I'll be leaving once I've finished all in progress stories.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
There was a shift in the household as Danny moved into the bedroom next to Damian's. It was good though. Damian seemed to mellow out a bit more. Granted he'd been slowly calming down for the past five years, but this was different. He was less snappy and there were even less threats of violence. The twins stayed close most of the time and you could often find Danny in the cave on the comm system when it was time for patrol.
He'd been introduced to the rest of the Bats (except Jason who was busy with his own operation at the moment) and the situation about his past explained. Though Dick could tell there was still something that Danny, Damian and Bruce were keeping from the rest of them. He wasn't sure what it was, and while he was curious, he wasn't sure he wanted to break the tentative bond he'd managed to build back up with Danny.
Dick rolled into the cave and paused as he saw Danny at the computer waiting for Bruce and Damian to get back from patrol.
"You good? You look a bit tired." Dick said as he removed his mask and leaned against the desk. Danny looked up, blinking slowly as he focused on Dick before he smiled good naturedly.
"Fine. Just a bit sleepy. It's been a long few days… Dami and Father are busy, Oracle is working hard, even Cass is out doing recon on GIW bases… I don't want to be the only one not working, especially when I'm the one who brought it to their attention… I'd be out there if I could… I just… I can't risk being seen right now." He sighed and leaned back on his chair, spinning around to face Dick.
"Plus I'm pretty sure Tim hasn't slept in a couple days while he tries to break through all the GIW files and get more evidence that crimes are being committed, not just against ghosts but humans too." Danny said. "I can't just sit around and do nothing."
"I understand, I'll see how Timmy is doing and make sure he's getting some rest." Dick nodded. He glanced over Danny, wondering what else he was hiding, why, and if he'd ever tell them. Did he not trust them enough yet?
"I'll tell you soon. You can stop trying to subtly pry it out of me." Danny said as he swung back to the computer.
"I'm doing what now?" Dick raised an eyebrow.
"You don't live here anymore. You've been coming around a lot since I came over, you can obviously tell there is something more I'm keeping from you. I'll tell you soon. You don't need to come over and try and act friendly just to try and pry it out of me." Danny said. While that had been partially Dick's intentions, mostly he was curious about the new family member and wanted to get to know him better.
"That's not the only reason I'm coming around. We're family now Danny." Dick pointed out. Danny looked at him and raised an eyebrow before sighing.
"Yeah. True… I know the secret thing isn't the only thing you're coming over for, but your curiosity about it keeps screaming at me everytime we're in the same room." He sighed.
"How… how exactly does it scream?" Dick asked, curious and slightly amused.
"Most ghosts have empathic abilities. I'm ecto-contaminated enough that I have them too." Danny explained.
"Hmmm… probably makes it easier to read Bruce." He said with a shrug.
"It does." Danny agreed. "Father gives nothing away on his face, but his emotions speak volumes… but when he or Dami are angry… It's… it's like a tidal wave and a boiling sea… it's terrifying, even when they're angry on my behalf… which they've been a lot lately. The more they find out about the GIW."
"B is pretty terrifying when mad… and that's even without any ability to feel emotions… must be overwhelming." Dick nodded sympathetically.
"It's gotten easier the longer I've had this ability… easier to block out emotions that aren't mine and separate myself… even if I still sense them. Unfortunately, I can't completely turn it off." Danny sighed.
"That does sound a bit rough… When this whole thing is sorted I should introduce you to the team. Raven is also an empath, maybe she could help you? She and Damian sort of have a thing from what I understand." Dick smiled mischievously.
"Hmmm… Dami has mentioned her in his stories. He speaks highly of her." Danny nodded. "That will probably be more helpful than a shrink honestly… though even Dami thinks I need therapy. I told him I'll see a shrink when I'm dead and he did not find that amusing. Tough crowd."
"Well, we've all been through a lot of loss… death jokes tend not to go over the best… but you should meet Jason when he's done with his thing." Dick smiled.
"Ah yes, the elusive Jason. The one who died and came back. I can relate." Danny nodded as he swung himself back and forth idly in the chair as they talked, spinning halfway around then back over and over.
"That's him. I think he'd enjoy your death jokes. You two would be insufferable together." Dick chuckled. Danny grinned, it was slightly eerie to see, possibly because he looked so much like Damian and Damian certainty never smiled so widely.
"A fellow dead man, excellent. I think we should plot together." Danny snickered. "Get it? Like a cemetery plot?"
"I got it you gremlin." Dick laughed and rolled his eyes. Danny smiled and glanced at the computer, pausing to give a quick warning to Cass about things to watch out for at the GIW location she was scouting. He was really good about not saying names on their comms and Dick wondered how much of his league training was still ingrained into him even with his memories lost.
"How are things going on the recovering your memories front?" Dick asked as Danny leaned back in the chair again.
"Slow." Danny sighed as he turned back to look at Dick. "Certain smells sometimes trigger memories, but they aren't concrete… more like emotions and feelings, glimpses… it's frustrating. Dami has been endlessly patient on that front. It's a bit hard to be honest… he gets so hopeful when I get glimpses, and disappointed when I'm not really fully remembering. There are more things here that trigger memories though… there weren't a lot back home." Danny explained, Dick nodded in sympathy. Danny's empathic abilities must make it extra frustrating and put more pressure on him.
"Damian lets you call him by a nickname. The first time I did that he tried to stab me… Hes definitely got a soft spot for you." Dick smiled.
"I've always called him Dami." Danny frowned, "that is one of the things I remember at least. And he's my twin, I think we're allowed certain privileges between the two of us… though if he tries to stab you again I'll try and stop it." Danny said with a smile. Dick laughed.
"Well, he's been less stabby in the recent past." Dick admitted.
"Its still kind of strange to me… The whole having a twin thing… back home I've got an older sister, you kind of remind me of her, except she's way more nosy and pushy… But having a twin is different. Its like realizing I was missing someone all along… And yet getting to know them for the first time."
"I'd imagine it's been wild."
"I know i missed him… and i know hes my twin… i feel it in my core… i just wish I remembered more about him, not just little flashes." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair then frowned. "I'm also apparently a trained assasain, which explains much of my childhood… but also seems absolutely insane. well the rest off my life has gone off the rails… Why not this too?"
"We'll help you get back, B is just crazy paranoid about getting all the evidence possible. You gave us a ton, but he wants to get his own evidence." Dick explained.
"I'm not saying you should all hurry up and take down the GIW… but I do miss my family back in Amity. Don't get me wrong, you guys are great! That doesn't stop me from missing my friends, my sister, my cousin… my parents too." He sighed. Dick raised an eyebrow as his parents were tacked onto the end of the list.
"Stop." Danny said with a frown. "Its just complicated with them right now because of all the ghost stuff. I love them and miss them too." Danny said as he turned to the computer and pressed a few buttons. Dick wanted to argue, but he didnt eant to go back to the silent treatment hed gotten after the first time hed pushed too hard.
"Cant you contact them?" Dick asked.
"Yes… But it would immediately pass through a GIW server, and even if we could find a way to block them none of us want to take that risk right now." Danny sighed. "I have sent a few messages discreetly through a reliable source but… With the way it works they can't respond to the messages."
Dick frowned, that had to be isolating for him, even if they'd become his family as well, not being able to contact his friends and family at home had to be rough. The two fell silent for a bit as Danny typed on the computer, looking at blueprints of the base Orphan was currently casing. He sent a few weak points to her over the com before turning back to Dick, opening his mouth to speak , only to be interrupted by the sound of a door slamming.
They both looked up as Tim shuffled into the room, grumbling to himself as he gently pushed Danny to the side and plugged his laptop into the computer.
"You good bro?" Danny asked. "You look deader than I am! That's a low bar." Danny said, smiling at his own joke. Tim looked up and frowned at Danny.
"Damian… no… Danyal… Danny… right… ghost footage." He mumbled as he began typing on his laptop. "Reviewing security, needed more screens." He explained as he pulled up security footage from the GIW base. Danny froze, his eyes glued to the screen, his breathing stopped and his heart stuttered as he gripped the edge of his seat so hard the metal began to bend and break while his knuckles turned white.
The bases were all built the same, the same sterile white walls and block lettering. The same cold lighting and white suits. Danny swallowed and stared at the screens. Dick frowned as he noticed how still Danny had gotten. He glanced at Danny's death grip, surprised that he'd managed to bend the metal of the chair frame before he took a step forward hesitantly.
"Danny?" Dick asked, his brow furrowing, he hadn't seen the boy breathe for the last minute, his eyes fixed on the computer screen yet thousands of miles away. Tim flicked through the various channels, pulling one up on each screen, Danny shuddered and visibly pulled away, his hands moved to his chest, fingers digging into the cloth as a lab appeared on screen. More concerning to Dick was the fact that he still hadn't seen the boy breathe, and it looked like Danny was beginning to tremble violently.
Dick moved forward quickly as he realized the boy was going into a panic attack, despite the lack of hyperventilating that was a usual sign. He pulled Danny away from the screens.
"Shut it off Tim!" He ordered as he stood in front of Danny as the boy stared through him with wide eyes full of terror, his hands clawing into his shirt.
"What? Bu-" Tim began to protest until he saw Danny's panicked state, "shit." He mumbled as he hurried to cut the feed, but the damage was done, Danny trembled and fought Dick, his nails catching on the cloth and beginning to rip his shirt open.
"Danny. Danny, it's okay. You're safe." Dick said, trying to pull Danny's hands away from his chest as he dug into his chest.
"Get out… get them out." Danny whimpered as he tried to claw his chest open, Dick was surprised by how strong he was, he was unable to restrain the boy, despite how skinny he seemed. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized this was probably another one of those ecto-contamination side effects Danny was always talking about.
"Get them out! Get their hands out of me!" Danny sobbed, his shirt ripping and blood appearing through the scratches and under his nails. Dick fought to keep his hands away even though it was a losing battle.
"Make them stop. Get them out! It hurts! make it stop!" Danny begged.
"Danny!" Dick yelled, still trying to catch Danny's hands and keep them away from the wounds appearing across his chest with each new clawing motion Danny made.
"Stop. Please stop, anyone stop them!" He cried out as Dick struggled to keep Danny from hurting himself more than he already had. It felt like trying to stop bane without any gear, Danny had untold strength hidden in his tiny form. Dick kept mumbling reassurances as Danny's shirt became more and more ripped and bloody.
"Danny, it's Dick, you're safe, stop, you're hurting yourself. Breathe, breathe please." Dick begged as Tim ran to get Alfred. Usually Dick was better at managing panic attacks, but he was beginning to panic himself as Danny's nails tore through the shirt and into his own flesh. He wasn't sure if anyone could stay level headed as he watched Danny tear away at his own flesh. He begged and sobbed and yet never seemed to take a breath, blood flowing down his chest and pooling in his lap as the boy panicked.
"Make them stop… get them out of me… stop them!" Danny pleaded and continued to claw away at his chest. Dick looked around frantically for anything they could use to calm him. Based on his reactions he didn't think restraining him would end well. Someone had restrained him before… restrained him and did unspeakable things. Trying to tie Danny's hands down would likely only result in more panic, and there was enough panic in the room.
"Danny. Please. You're here, you're in the Batcave with me. It's Dick. Your new older brother. Focus on my voice, you're safe. You're here in the cave with me. Timmy has gone to get Alfred. You're okay." Dick tried to reach him through whatever fog Danny was lost in. He managed to still Danny's hands as Danny sobbed and wailed openly, his tears falling swiftly and mixing with the blood on his shirt. At least he'd stopped trying to dig into his chest. It was only a small comfort as Danny finally drew in a long breath and then broke into fresh sobs, hanging his head as he let Dick hold his hands, keeping them from clawing away at his chest again.
"Good… good… just breathe. You're okay. You're safe now. You're safe Danny." Dick said, trying to keep his voice as soft and soothing as possible. Danny whimpered and looked at Dick. His eyes were glowing softly and shone with tears which also seemed to glow, especially in the dim lights of the cave. Dick smiled and gave Danny's hands a small squeeze.
"You're okay." He said softly. "You're safe Danny. You're safe." He tried to reassure him, but it seemed Danny was still somewhat lost in the fog of memories.
"Stop them… please stop… they won't stop taking me apart… please stop…" He whimpered before a fresh wave of tears sprung from his eyes and he hung his head once more. Dick wanted to pull him into a hug, but was afraid of how Danny would react. Would he read it as a threat? Dick scanned Danny's chest and the bright red blood streaks before he realized something worse. Stark white against his already pale skin was a knotted scar he'd hoped never to see on one of his brothers again. A Y shaped incision as if he'd had an autopsy.
"Danny." Dick's voice caught in his throat and despite his concerns He pulled Danny into a tight hug. Danny whimpered, clearly taken off guard by the hug before he leaned into the embrace.
"Dick…" Danny gasped out, Dick held him a bit tighter,as if that could chase away all of the bad memories and keep his younger brother safe from things that had already happened.
"They will never touch you again. Never." Dick vowed. He wasn't one for killing, but the rage he felt towards those who had done this to his new little brother was enough to level mountains. Danny whimpered in his arms.
"Dick?" He whispered, fear edging into his voice. Dick wasn't an empath but he could hear the panic creeping back in. He pulled away and gently put his hands on Danny's shoulder, one gently cupping the face of the younger boy.
"Yes. I'm here. You're safe." Dick said, trying to keep his voice gentle and level despite the rage boiling in his gut. He wanted to go find those who had done this to Danny and make them pay. He wanted to inflict on them a fate worse than death. He wondered vaguely if this was anything close to the rage Jason felt when his pit madness took over.
"Sorry." Danny whispered, his voice soft weak and full of fear that it broke Dick out of his rage spiral.
"No. Don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong." Dick said as he held him tighter. "Don't be sorry Danny. Don't be sorry."
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry." Danny repeated and Dick remembered he was an empath and perhaps was frightened of his anger.
"No. No. Don't be sorry." Dick pulled back so he could look Danny in the eyes. "I'm mad at whoever did this to you. Not at you."
"I know." Danny whispered as he looked away. "I'm sorry you saw… I'm sorry you had to see."
"No. Don't be sorry. I'm glad I know. I'm more motivated than ever to take those bastards down." Dick said as he looked down at Danny's bleeding chest. "Let's get you cleaned up… do you have claws i don't know about? You really cut yourself up."
"Yeah…" Danny said, guilt in his eyes. Dick wasn't sure if he was agreeing to the statement or admitting he did have claws. Dick gently squeezed Danny's shoulder in reassurance.
"Let's go to the med bay… Are you going to be okay?" He asked softly. If he'd been experimented on, perhaps going to the med bay wasn't the best idea… but it was the best place to treat Danny's wounds.
"As long as it's not white." Danny mumbled as he tried to close his tattered shirt over his chest.
"Don't, you'll just get more crap in your wound." Dick said gently, taking Danny's hands.
"I… I didn't want you to see." He mumbled. Dick didn't know what to say to that as he pulled Danny gently toward the med bay.
"I didn't… I didn't want you guys to see… I didn't want to be a distraction on the mission." Danny mumbled as he followed Dick. Thankfully Alfred came into the cave at that moment followed by Tim. The man's face gave nothing away as he glanced over Danny's wounds before heading toward the cabinet and grabbing the necessary equipment to help patch Danny up.
"I'd like to avoid stitches if possible." Danny mumbled as Dick helped him onto a bed. His eyes lingered and the litany of scars on Danny's torso, the Y incision being the most prominent.
"Given the depth you've managed to hurt yourself, stitches may be necessary. I will use steri-strips where possible" Alfred warned as he set up a table nearby with the equipment before scrubbing his hands clean and getting some surgical gloves out. He approached and looked over Danny's shirt.
"Well, I have to cut the shirt off young master Danny." Alfred said as he took the scissors and began to cut away the shirt before exposing the wounds. He paused briefly as he too noticed the Y incision across Danny's chest, a small twitch of the eyebrow and downward turn of his mouth was all that gave away how upset it made him. At least that Dick could see, he wondered what Danny picked up from Alfred, and if the same rage was boiling under that calm professional mask.
"I'll begin by cleaning your wounds, does your biology accept anesthetics?" He asked as he gently cleaned up the blood from Danny's scratches. Most of them had stopped bleeding already, and some of the shallower ones seemed to even be starting to heal.
"No. I burn through them unless they're specifically tailored to me. same with pain medication… but I've had worse." Danny said, a small smile on his lips to show he wasn't afraid and reassure the others. Dick certainly didn't feel reassured, and by the increased frown on Alfred's face, he clearly wasn't either.
"If you share the knowledge with us we can get pain meds tailored for you. Having been in worse pain is no reason to continue being in pain now." Alfred replied. Tim was hovering at the door, Dick could see he was torn between staying with their new brother and going back to his research.
"I hardly need an audience, masters Tim and Dick, you can leave." Alfred dismissed them as he continued to gently clean the wounds. More of the scars that littered Danny's body were revealed and Dick swallowed, glancing at Tim before they both nodded in agreement and turned toward the door, Dick paused as they reached the door, turning back to Danny and looking him over one last time.
"I'll be back later to check on you Danny." Dick assured him, hoping that there was some form of comfort in his words. The boy waved cheerfully enough, as if he hadn't just had a panic attack after seeing the inside of a GIW facility, as if he hadn't tried to claw his way into his chest in front of them to "get them out." Dick slung an arm around Tim and the two went back to the computer. The screens were all dark, Tim had turned them off as soon as he'd realized Danny was having a reaction to them, not that it seemed to have helped much in the end. Tim slumped into the chair and sighed, running a hand down his face. They were quiet for a good long moment, thinking about what had just happened with Danny and trying to figure out the reason for the panic attack. At least one that hopefully didn't involve Danny being in the custody of the GIW. Time was the first one to break the silence.
"He… he's… he's seen those halls before… They had him, Dick. They had Danny." Tim said, his voice trembled with rage. Dick nodded, his jaw clenched tight.
"Do you think this is what B and Dami were keeping from us?" Dick asked. "Danny said he didn't want us to know… didn't want this to distract us from the mission."
"Shit." Tim mumbled. "Did B already get his hooks in or… is this residual league training… or is something more going on? Those scars didn't all come from the same time… he… he's like us… He's fought before. We have similar scars." Tim said, his hand going to his side, where his spleen used to be. Dick tracked the movement before sighing and slumping into another chair nearby.
"I know."' He mumbled.
"The lab was what set him off the worst." Tim mumbled as he glanced at his laptop them back to Dick, his face pale. Dick wondered if he was remembering the GIW footage from their experiments, Dick hadn't gotten through all of them, watching it made him sick. Tim had seen much more than he had.
"I know we said we wouldn't pry… but… what have you found out about him?" Dick asked, swallowing the lump in his throat at the idea of one of his brother's int he custody of those mad men. He knew Tim couldn't leave well enough alone. That was the problem with being part of a family of detectives, they stuck their noses into everyone's business, even if they said they wouldn't. Tim frowned and then turned back to his laptop, pulling up the file he'd already compiled on Danny Fenton.
"His story checks out for the most part, he already admitted to his parents lying about how he was found, so unless he's the one lying, which I don't think he is, what he has told us so far has been the truth." Tim explained as he flipped through pages. "His story about the accident checks out too, he's got records of hospitalization following it, they kept him overnight for observation and he was diagnosed with bradycardia following this event, among other things such as poor circulation, which Danny himself has attributed to his ecto-contamination."
"Anything else?" Dick frowned.
"Following the timeline of events and reports it seems that Phantom appears a month after his accident, from some of the grainy footage and security cameras it seems like he and his friends begin helping the ghost fight other ghosts, including loaning the ghost technology from the Fentons. I've also found a conspiracy blog about different things in Amity, including claims that Danny isn't human, which may have sparked the GIW interest in him if… if what we're assuming is correct from where he got those scars… at least some of them. If Danny has been helping Phantom, it could explain some of the other injuries but…" Tim trailed off as he seemed to connect some dots. He froze, his hands hovering over the keyboard.
"What? What is it?" Dick asked, leaning forward, wanting to know what his brother realized.
"I… I've been going through the GIW logs and footage that Danny and his friends compiled… it could just be a coincidence… but… thinking back to injuries that Phantom has sustained… perhaps that Westin kid was onto something but… that doesn't make sense. Phantom is a ghost… Danny is alive…but…"
"Get to the point Tim." Dick said, he wasn't quite sure what his brother was trying to say, but he didn't like the picture it painted. Tim was quiet for a moment before looking up at Dick solemnly.
"From the scars I've seen and the injuries I've cataloged on Phantom… my Hypothesis is that Danny is somehow Phantom." Tim said. Dick grit his teeth. What did that imply? That his new youngest brother was somehow still dead? That the reason Danny reacted so violently to the footage of GIW bases was because Phantom had been held captive? That his youngest brother had gone through literal torture and vivisection? Anger remained sharp and hot in his chest, but something like grief began to well up in his gut. Danny had been through so much, he'd gone through crazy things already, but for him to also be Phantom… that would mean he was somehow dead and that he'd been through so much more than they'd realized.
"How is that possible? They look very different. Danny bleeds, he's still alive, even if he's been changed." Dick said. It was a good counterpoint to the whole Danny is Phantom argument, but even if he wasn't Phantom, that still meant Danny had been through similar experiments to those in the file. If he wasn't Phantom and he'd been through similar experiments, why didn't Danny and his friends include it in their evidence? The argument against the GIW and their infringement on human rights would be stronger if it was Danny in the videos, not just Phantom. It was a shitty realization though, that people would be more likely to be on their side when they say humans getting hurt rather than something that was labeled as other.
"I don't know… they have both been seen at the same time and in the same place… but some of the ghosts have duplication abilities. It would probably be easier if we could see Phantom's face, but you just get the vague sense of features beyond the mask." Tim frowned, typing away at the keyboard as he realized something.
"Except… we can see his face… the GIW took his mask off when they captured him. Phantom is just a kid… he's got white hair and green eyes, his skin has green undertones and the kid has a pair of fangs but… I was more distracted by the disgusting behavior of the agents that... I didn't really study his face…" Tim hesitates before pulling up the footage with a few strokes on his keyboard. Phantom has his usual mask on, the one that obscures his features as they slice into him, it muffles his voice and it comes out filled with static and crackles as the ghost whimpers on the table. Dick forces himself to watch, to look past the gore on screen as an operative instructs that it be removed and the scientist marvels at how well Phantom mimics a human.
The boy on the table is crying, his tears are luminescent and falling from green eyes far too intense and neon to be human, but his emotions are real. Dick can tell that the ghost is terrified, tired, and in unspeakable pain. It's insane that the agents on screen seem to think this is all some sort of mimicry, that the emotions of the ghost's face aren't real.
Dick is certain that if he wasn't wearing gloves he'd be digging his nails into his palms deep enough to bleed by this point. Tim pauses the video when they have a semi clear view of Phantom's face. It's otherworldly, the soft glow from the boy's skin making him seem entirely inhuman, as well as the way his hair flows as if in a breeze or underwater even while they are inside a lab. The white of his hair isn't just white, but each strand seems to be woven from starlight and moonlight, glowing softly as it frames his face. The bright green of his eye are illuminated from within, the pupil not the familiar black of a human, but a star unto itself. If Dick saw a photo of this boy without context, his first thought would be angel, not ghost. But as they look past the surface level they see the bone structure, the familiar curve of the nose, the shape of his eyes. The mask of death hides much to the casual observer, but now that they're looking for it, all they can see is Danny in Phantom's place.
"Fuck." Dick curses as he stares at the laptop. Tim was not putting the video up on a larger screen in case Danny returned. He didn't need to be retraumatized by this. The two of them stare at the photo, even the small evidence of a cut on the lip and one by the hair line echo Danny's own scars. Dick may be looking at Phantom but all he can see is his new younger brother, scared and hurt and broken; strapped to a table by a bunch of psychopaths masquerading as scientists.
It's another long moment before Tim breaks the silence again.
"The… the Fentons have a theory that ghosts are just an ectoplasmic imprint of memory and emotion at the time of death… um… maybe Danny was just close enough to death at the accident that he sort of spawned a ghost?" Tim said, not that it made things any better, nor did it make much sense. Dick understood the want to separate the two, as if denying that Danny was Phantom would somehow protect him from the trauma he'd been through.
"This…" Dick shook his head. "Even if that's the case they still had Danny."
"Maybe the two are connected and not the same person and somehow injuries transferred over?" Tim said, clearly grasping at straws.
"That doesn't make it better." Dick frowned as his stomach flipped when he finally tore his eyes away from Phantom's face, to the open Y incision and the oozing organs in shades of green. He didn't really care to know that Phantom's bones were black, or that his lungs and heart were the same neon green as his irises.
"No. It doesn't… but I just… I don't want him to have gone through all that I've seen." Tim whispered. Dick nodded, looking away from the computer and glancing back to the med bay, if that really was somehow his brother in the footage, he understood why Danny had such a viceral reaction to a mere image of the lab that had once housed him.
"Putting aside how someone could be a human and a ghost at the same time, what other evidence do we have?" Dick asked, trying to remain professional, even as his blood boiled in anger but his heart screamed in sorrow. Tim was silent, the only noise was his fingers across the keyboard. Dick had no doubt that Tim was feeling something similar to himself, he wondered if Danny could feel their emotions from the med bay and he focused on his breathing to try and calm himself.
"I don't know… weird absences in his school record, his GPA also takes a nose dive after Phantom begins to show up." Tim mumbled as he began to sort through the evidence with new eyes, glancing up every so often at Dick while he looked at a timeline of ghosts. "Danny was also apparently out of school for a week after Phantom defeated some big bad… he's also set of multiple detectors at the school, which his adoptive parents have attributed to his ecto contamination and created a work around for this… it's called the Danny protocol."
Tim looked up at Dick, the evidence was circumstantial at best, but it had to be true. There were only so many coincidences, plus, he felt it was true in his gut. Not that a "gut feeling" would be enough evidence for Tim at the end of the day.
"Anything else?" Dick wondered.
"If he is Phantom… well… you've seen the tapes. The scars line up." Tim whispered and paused. "Plus… Danny was missing during the time the GIW had Phantom… I don't know how it's possible but… it seems to be the more likely conclusion now."
"Bruce and Dami know." Dick said. "Danny said he didn't want to distract us… he must have… he must have realized how we'd react on some level. He's got this empathy thing going on apparently. Did you let B know about his panic attack."
"I sent him a message not long after I found Alfred." Tim said with a nod. "He says he's on his way and should be here any minute."
As if no cue the roar of the batmobile as it came into the cave and interrupted their conversation. The car had barely stopped before Robin was jumping out and sprinting toward the med bay. He cast a quick look at Tim and Dick, a small frown on his face before continuing to the bedside of his twin. Batman emerged not long after, pulling his cowl down and glancing at his two sons.
"How is he?" He asked.
"Alfred is patching him up. He's mostly calmed down I believe… he was more worried about his panic attack being distracting to the mission… he was also worried his scars would be distracting." Dick said, glancing toward the direction of the med bay. Bruce sighed and glanced between his two sons.
"It was his wish to keep them a secret until after the mission or until it was necessary. How much did you figure out?" He asked.
"Well… we aren't sure how it's possible, but is… is Danny also Phantom?" Tim asked with a frown.
"Hmm." Bruce grunted and glanced toward the med bay. "Interesting conclusion." He said with a frown before he saw Alfred emerge from the room. He walked swiftly over and began to talk to the other man as Dick and Tim exchanged looks.
"What does that mean?" Tim frowned.
"I'm going to loosely translate that into: you got it right but Danny doesn't want you to know." Dick said with a shrug. "Let's go check on Danny." He stretched before moving toward the med bay and poking his head in.
Damian was sitting on the edge of the bed with Danny, the two of them chatting in some sort of Arabic dialect. Damian and Danny held each other's hands and from the cadence of the speech Dick suspected that Danny was trying to reassure Damian that he was alright. Danny glanced at Dick and smiled nervously as he gestured for him to come in.
"How you doing?" Dick asked, concern on his face as he fully stepped into the room.
"I've been worse." Danny shrugged. "Tell Tim he can come too… I'd like to explain."
"You don't have to." Damian said, bristling slightly and shooting a glare at Dick. Danny easily calmed him with a gentle squeeze of the hand.
"I want to. Plus it's only fair… I'll tell the others soon too. Plus… maybe it's best to let them know about the full shit show they've gotten themselves into with me." Danny sighed and shook his head.
"Okay. As long as it's your choice and you aren't feeling pressured." Damian said as he gave Danny's hands a gentle squeeze, he glared at Dick for a moment as if to dare him to pressure Danny and Dick realized that Damian's days of stabbing were far from over. Woe be to anyone who threatened Damian's twin. Dick slipped back out the door and gestured for Tim to come in. Bruce raised an eyebrow as Tim hurried into the room but said nothing as he spoke with Alfred.
As Tim joined them Danny pushed himself into more of a sitting position, wincing slightly as the stitched pulled. He put his bandaged chest and took a moment to breathe before beginning..
"So…" He stared, then glanced at Damian for reassurance before looking back up at his other two brothers. He took a deep breath and everyone politely refused to comment on his shaking hands.
"Take your time." Tim said softly, putting on a smile before glancing over at Damian who had once again taken Danny's hands into his. The twins exchanged looks before looking back toward Dick and Tim. He nodded and took a breath.
"Thank you… you're right by the way… ." Danny said softly as he glanced down at the sheets then back to his brothers. "I have enhanced hearing, I could hear you… I… I am Phantom."
Tim and Dick exchanged looks then looked back to Danny, questions brimming on their lips before Danny raised a hand to ward off the incoming barrage.
"Don't ask how that works, I don't really understand myself, I just know it does and it's because of the lab accident. I'd transform to show you but… Alfred wants me to rest some more. I told Alfred a bit about my… condition… though I suspect he knew something even before… probably because I kept going ghost to steal cookies." He said with a small smile. "Alfred's cookies are to die for."
Dick wasn't sure if he wanted to groan or laugh, death jokes weren't uncommon, but somewhat uncomfortable at times with the amount of close calls they'd had… but his new brother was a ghost and perhaps death was less taboo when you were already dead. Shit. Was Danny dead? He didn't think it was fair to ask that right now. Tim however was mind-addled from lack of sleep and had no such qualms.
"Does this mean you're dead? But… you have a heartbeat and bleed…" Tim frowned.
"I'm half dead… I'm half human and half ghost. don't try and make it make sense. It doesn't." Danny said with a small shake of his head. "I'm also capable of most of my ghost powers while in human form so… I don't really know how that works. I've given up trying to understand it."
"That's going to drive me insane." Tim admitted with a frown.
"Timmers has an overwhelming need to understand everything at all times." Dick explained. Danny laughed.
"I've given up, I would be insane by now if I kept trying to understand everything and the crazy nonsense that comes out of the infinite realms. Plus things tend to run more off feelings and emotions there than here. Sometimes a thing just works because everyone expects it to work." Danny shrugged.
"That… doesn't inspire confidence." Tim said with a frown.
"It kind of doesn't… it's really hard to map out an infinite dimension when things are constantly moving, and sometimes are only there because you expect it to be." Danny sighed.
"You've tried to map an infinite dimension?" Dick asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It wasn't my brightest moment, and it did sort of help as long as things were where they were expected to be. Again, things don't make logical sense in the Zone." Danny shrugged.
"How… what?" Tim frowned. "As long as I never have to go there, I suppose I'll cope." He finally settled on saying as he leaned back and sighed.
"Who knows where any of us will end up in the end." Danny shrugged. "But I'll keep you out of field trips to the zone for the foreseeable future."
"Are you planning trips to the Ghost Zone?" Dick asked, he doubted Damian would want to let his twin that far away from him, leaving Danny in the cave while on patrol was one thing, letting him leave into an entirely different dimension was another. Damian was ridiculously protective of his twin… Dick supposed he would be to in the same circumstances. Hell, he'd only really known Danny for a week and was already protective of the kid. That came with the territory of finding out you had a brother who was assumed dead and now had the government after him. If Dick had a nickle for every time that had happened, he'd have two nickles, but it was very odd that it had happened twice.
"No, not for a while, and not till the situation with Amity is taken care of… moreover, I'd like to stay here with Damian for a bit longer, see if I can recover more memories… I'll have to go back eventually. You'd think that you'd be free of paperwork once you're dead, but apparently not. Especially when the guy before you didn't do any of his paperwork and got locked up for thousands of years… though the paperwork was probably the last thing on their minds when the ancients locked up the old Ghost King." Danny sighed.
"Wait." Tim said his head suddenly snapped up. "You are Phantom."
"Yes we've established that." Danny said with a nod.
"Phantom is the supposed King of the infinite realms… dude… you're royalty!" Tim said, his mouth falling open in shock at the realization.
"Heir apparent, King to be, not currently much of a King. Plus it's debatable if I can be King while living, again, it's complicated… and yet somehow I get stuck with the stupid paperwork. I can barely finish an english essay, how do those eyeballs expect me to catch up on thousands of years worth of paperwork." Danny said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Don't worry your majesty, we know a thing or two about paperwork and reports." Dick teased and ruffled Danny's hair. Danny grumbled and moved to fix his hair while Damian raised an eyebrow. Since Danny didn't protest at the contact, Damian must have held back at snapping at him, though Dick suspected Damian was a bit jealous of any sibling bonding Danny was having. He suspected he wanted Danny all to himself after everything they'd been through.
"I fail to see how this was impressive, we were practically royalty before." Damian pointed out with a small scoff. Danny raised an eyebrow and Dick rolled his eyes.
"Being the heir to an entire crazy cult and the heir to an entire dimension is vastly different." Tim pointed out. Danny laughed and gently nudged Damian before he could snap at Tim.
"Go get dressed, come back when you don't smell like patrol sweat. I'm not going anywhere." He promised with a smile. Damian frowned but nodded, giving Danny's hand a small squeeze before leaving the room.
"You two should probably get moving too." Danny said to his brothers. "Father wants to talk to me." He sighed. Dick and Tim exchanged a look before nodding and following Damian out the door, passing Bruce on the way in. Danny must have heard him with his enhanced hearing. Between the enhanced hearing and the empathy thing it was going to be a challenge to keep anything a secret from their new brother. Bruce nodded at his boys as they passed before slipping into the room. Dick paused, curious and wanting to know what they were going to talk about, but he figured Danny probably needed the privacy, nevermind the fact that Bruce would be disappointed in their snooping. He grabbed Tim by the wrist and began pulling him toward the showers and the locker rooms.
"Come on Timbers, you haven't showered in days and it shows. You're getting a hose down to then I'm tucking you in bed." Dick said.
"I'm fine." Tim protested. It would have been more convincing if Tim hadn't started yawning right at that moment. Dick laughed and shook his head.
"Tell me that when you don't reek of stale coffee and need a bag check for your eyes." Dick quipped, and as he headed to the locker room he could swear he heard Danny snort at the comment. He smiled to himself, at least their newest family member maintained a sense of humor after everything he'd been through. That thought damped the bit of mirth he'd managed to bring back and his free hand tightened into fists. He was going to make the GIW regret hurting his brother. He'd get vengeance on behalf of Danny, no matter the cost.