why are there like 20 heroes in gotham now. can someone go help chicago? toronto? the detroit-windsor international metropolitan area? there are only three islands in gotham city man you don't need to be there it's handled. it's fine. you are not needed. why don't you go become the hero of some city you'd actually be helpful in. go to fucking. saskatoon. go save the noble and helpless people of saskatoon
After an accident of some sort flings an injured Danny to another universe, he gets brought in to a hospital for treatment.
While he’s unconscious, they run a genetic test to try to figure out who he is. It doesn’t find any exact matches, but it does flag him as the son of Jack Drake and an unknown woman.
Now, in actuality, this is because Jack Fenton is an alternate universe version of Jack Drake who followed a different path in life and married a different woman, but the hospital staff don’t know that.
So they come to the only logical conclusion: Danny must have been the child of an affair. And since Jack Drake is dead, he isn’t exactly around to contest that assumption.
And Tim… Tim has no idea what to think about this news.
Tim stared at the unconscious teen. He was found, heavily injured on the side of a road and police ruled it a hit-and-run... even though the doctors said his injuries were more aligned with being very close to an explosion than being hit by a car, but that's the only evidence of it. Not only that, but he's been unconscious since he was picked up, so they weren't getting any explanations from him. The hospital ran his DNA as a last-ditch effort to find out where he'd come from - and Tim was the only living relative they could contact.
There were side-eyes and gossip surrounding this whole situation. John Doe still only partially matched with Jack and Tim, there was no blood shared with Janet, and no match to anyone else in the hospital database - or the Bat-database, yet, but it was big enough it could take weeks to go through the entire library. And looking at him... Yeah, Tim could see the resemblance.
Tim could 100% buy that this John Doe was his brother. They shared the Drake babyface, if their age estimates were correct, he was about two years younger than Tim. But accepting that meant accepting that his dad... Tim knows his dad would never have cheated on his mom, but this kid had to have come from -
A whimper came from the kid in the hospital bed, Tim jumped up to watch as he finally woke up after a three day coma. "Hey, kid -"
"Gah!" The kid started panicking and tried to pull the IV out of his hand.
Tim grabbed his hand to stop him, "Hang on! It's just fluids to keep you hydrated. you've been out for like, three days."
The kid looked up at Tim in confusion. His voice was rough around the words, "Three days?"
"Yeah." Tim said and let go now that he seemed calm. "What's your name?"
The kid stared at him with eyes slowly growing with worry, "I'm Danny."
"Last name?"
Fear flashed across his face and Danny ducked his head in shame. "I... um..."
"It's alright if you don't remember right away." Tim said and Danny looked back up at him. "The police say you got hit by a truck. Do you remember that?"
Danny looked ... hopeful? for some reason? "No, I feel like I got hit by a truck but I don't remember it."
"How about how old you are?"
"Uh..." Danny seemed to need to actually think about it, "I just turned fourteen, I think."
"Oh, I see." Tim said, though, given what the doctors said, Danny should be closer to 16. "I'll let the nurses know. Is there anything else? How much pain are you in, do you need more painkillers?"
Danny blinked at him, "Do I know you? You look really familiar."
Tim tried to smile, "Not really, this is our first time meeting."
"Okay. It was nice to meet you- um?"
"Tim, Timothy Drake." He said and extended his hand to Danny. "It's nice to meet you too, Danny."
Tim turned to leave, but Danny got his attention again, "Wait, Tim, if you're not a nurse or whatever, why are you here?"
Tim was going to wait until after the nurses gave Danny a check-up and make sure he's actually fine. But, Danny did ask, so, "Well, according to our DNA, I'm your half-brother."
"Huh..." Danny said and stared confused at Tim for what felt like several minutes before saying. "I always wanted a brother. Cool."
Tim nodded and smiled then left to get the nurse's attention. He's not entirely sure Danny understood what was going on - and they should probably check his brain for damage.
Danny sat on the couch of Tim’s too big apartment. He insisted it wasn’t a penthouse, but it had three bedrooms, one converted into an office for Tim to work in, as well as a den, an open-plan living room kitchen space, two and a half bathrooms, and direct access to a private pool, gym, and arcade. It was too much space for one guy, in Danny’s opinion, but at least it wasn’t one frootloop in a castle over-the-top.
“Burgers are here!” Tim chimed as he re-entered from the entry hall – there was an entry hall.
Danny started to get up, but Tim waved at him to sit down again and set the delivery bags on the coffee table in front of Danny. “I got it. You’re is the super deluxe burger with fries and a pop.” He handed Danny a box, then a bag, and a cup. “Don’t know why you wanted a fountain drink, we’ve got plenty in the fridge.”
Danny shrugged, “I guess I like when it has cardboard taste in it.”
Tim nodded, less like he understood and more like he couldn’t argue, then took his own food and sat down on the couch next to Danny but with plenty of space between them. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate their burgers, then Tim suddenly asked, “So, you like your room? I know it looks hotel-impersonal right now, but we can get some decorations for it when we go get you more clothes.”
“Right.” Danny took another bite of burger so he didn’t have to talk. He didn’t want to have to stay there long enough to need more clothes or decorate a room. But he couldn’t be rude, Tim was just trying to help him out.
After a few more minutes, Tim cleared his throat and said, “So, what kinds of things do you like? Hobbies or interests or?”
Danny tried to stay chill as he said, “I’m kinda into astronomy.”
“Oo, the solar system or deep-space?”
“Yeah, so,” Danny found himself rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the floor. People generally loose interest once he starts explaining too much, “I’ve kinda wanted to be an astronaut my entire life and have worked on engineering and stuff like that. Back home, I’ve got model rockets and blueprints for shuttles, and prints of my favorite galaxies.”
“What are your favorite galaxies?”
“The Milky Way, of course.”
Danny paused to take a breath and Tim repeated “of course.”
“And also, uh Hoag’s Object which is a ring galaxy. The Tadpole galaxy, which is a disrupted spiral galaxy so it looks like it’s got a tail sticking out of it. The Godzilla galaxy, which is the biggest galaxy we’ve observed so far.” Danny gave the short version, and since Tim looked like he was actually still listening, Danny continued, “There were also two prints of dark matter globules, “God’s Finger” and “God’s Hand” – and I still had one of my first posters of the solar system, the one with Zoove on it – the temporary quasi-satellite of Venus, but I kept my official solar system map up-to-date. And a simplified schematic of the Hartman 2 – it was a rocket launched on my birthday when I was seven, but I was too young to know that it wasn’t a NASA mission, it was just a rich guy’s vanity project that barely left the launchpad.”
“Hate it when that happens.” Tim commented and Danny laughed with him. “But this is all good to know, would you want a map of Mars too? I know how to get an accurate one, with all the cities and stuff labeled.”
Danny’s eyes lit up, “There are cities on Mars?”
Tim chuckled, “Yeah, our Martians made contact some time ago – on accident, actually.”
“Martians are real?” Danny literally had to grab his head with this new information.
“Yeah, a couple of decades ago, there was a near-extinction event,” Tim said and turned on the TV – that connected to the internet, and pulled up new articles on The Martian Manhunter, and Earth’s Sister Planet. “Manhunter – which is just kinda what they call police on Mars – he got nabbed by an experimental teleportation device and got stranded here on Earth. He’d got trapped in the beginning of a huge plague that we now know killed almost two thirds the Martian population. Their entire society pretty much collapsed and they’ve been trying to rebuild ever since, but it’s slow-going. Our technology has actually really been rapidly increasing ever since we found out too, both so that Manhunter could get back home and also so we can help the Martians.”
Danny had gotten up off the couch to get closer to the screen – almost too close to be able to read it. “Years? More than two?”
Tim gave a slightly hurt smile, “Yeah, is any memory coming back?”
Danny didn’t answer, just turned back to skim more of the articles in front of him. Something itched at the back of Danny’s head, and he didn’t even realize he’d spoken when he asked, “Where’s Dad?”
Tim had shown Danny his dad, Jack Drake, and it was just Danny’s dad, Jack Fenton. It made no sense and Danny assumed that the first thing Tim would want to do is confront Jack Drake about a seemingly secret child, from a seemingly second family. But Danny hadn’t seen or heard from the man at all, and the apartment was Tim’s, no parents or siblings to be found.
“Right…” Tim said and started to pick up the trash of their lunch. “Dad died a couple years ago. Mom too a little before that.”
“Oh, I’m-” Danny turned to look at him, but Tim was already walking into the kitchen. “Sorry.”
Tim shrugged. “In all honesty – I probably don’t miss him as much as I should. He tried to be a good dad, but only after Mom died. And I just, wasn’t ready for it. Neither of them had been hugely present in my life. They loved me, and took care of me, but they were busy with work, so…”
Danny sighed, “yeah, me too.”
Then he realized, he didn’t want Tim to get the wrong idea, “Wait, but my dad isn’t dead? He’s-” Danny suddenly felt something wrong, “alive…”
“Is he?” Tim asked, then noticed Danny’s confusion. “Are you okay?”
“I- I just felt it…” Danny said, trying to put his feelings into words. “I can feel there’s something missing… I didn’t really believe it before, but I can feel a hole in my memory. Something should be there, but it’s not… I don’t – I don’t know if my dad’s still alive or not.”
Tim sighed sadly, “So… I’ve also been asking around, and I’ve got a theory about all this.”
Danny gave him a confused look, unsure if this was a desperate attempt at distraction to stop Danny from spiraling or what. "A theory?"
"Yeah, so I personally know Superboy."
Imagine being rich enough you could call some superman to come figure out why you have a half-brother, like the obvious solution doesn't exist.
"And a couple of years ago, there was a bit of an... issue? Where a bunch of parallel realities were collapsing for reasons I'm still not fully sure of - but it was kind of like... do you know what a wave function collapse is?"
"Schrodinger's Cat stuff, right?"
"Exactly! So, there were a whole bunch of parallel worlds that collapsed into one reality, but it didn't do that cleanly." Tim continued. "Some people who should be dead are alive, some people exist who's parents don't, and so on."
"You... think I'm a leftover of a reality that doesn't exist anymore?"
"It's just my current working theory!" Tim defended, "But it's really hard to check that kind of thing, but our dad is the same guy, just a little different. Your home city doesn't exist, but Gotham City has existed for both of us. Your Mars doesn't have Martians on it, the minute differences in our timelines might have just made it not as lucky as ours. And, you know, Dad would never cheat on Mom like that."
Danny didn't want to believe that, but everything Tim was saying made sense. There were discrepancies in the reality Danny knew, but, his entire reality? All his friends and family and even the people he didn't like but would still miss? "I don't want my home to have never existed."
"It's just a theory!"
"That some superman told you?"
"Superboy," tim corrected, "he witnessed the form collapse."
Danny rubbed his face and sighed, "And how... how would you prove this?"
Tim looked like he was completely sure already, but offered, "There's a special type of radiation that people from parallel realities give off - it's usually unique to their reality, but if someone's from a... "dead" timeline, that all registers as the same even if the individuals are from different realities."
"Okay, so, how do we test for that radiation?"
"I'll call Superboy. He should be able to connect us to someone who has the tech that can do that!" Tim said cheerefully. "And if not, if you're from a living reality, we'll be able to get you back home."
Danny nodded, but again... "I don't really believe all this. Like, parallel dimensions and stuff? It's just, sci-fi bullshit." Danny said, but the look on Tim's face was, sad. It was almost the condescending look Dad would give Danny when he said ghosts were 100% real even though they'd never actually seen one. "But, I guess it's worth looking into."
"Don't worry, Danny. No matter what happens, I'll be here to take care of you."
Danny got a wave of positive emotions from that, literally just good vibes he couldn't define if asked. Jazz had said the exact same thing to him, all the time, and it felt like, even if she wasn't physically there, her spirit was...
Tim sat on top of the building’s helicopter pad with Danny, waiting for Kon to show up. As far as Tim could tell, Danny was fully just a civilian, which was good, Tim liked being normal around his new brother and not having to worry about being stabbed or dragged onto missions or worry about if he’s going to go missing for several days at a time and come back with broken bones. And, it gave him an excuse to stay away from the rest of Bruce’s gaggle of children. He warned that if they overwhelmed him, Tim would ruin their social lives for the next month.
“So, when you say Superboy is an alien, how alien are we talking?” Danny asked, still looking at the photo of Kon “saving” Tim from a rogue attack. “Because his photo just looks like a guy.”
“We’re literally seventeen stories up in that photo.” Tim commented.
“That’s not…” Danny started, but then got that distant look on his face he gets sometimes. Tim thinks he’s remembering stuff, but he’s not sharing. “Actually, that is impressive, isn’t it?”
“Duh! yeah, it is.” Tim said and ruffled Danny’s hair, that Danny seemed to like. “He can fly! And lift cars, and shot lasers out of his eyes!”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s cool – just not very alien.” Danny said, but he was smiling again, teasing even.
“Sorry not all aliens look like the xenomorph,” Tim said, but then something moved in the corner of his vision, and he turned to see a familiar jumpsuit flying towards him, “But speaking of.”
Tim waved at the quickly approaching dot and Kon came to a stop in front of them. “Hey there, Tim. Nice to see you took my advice of not falling off crumbling buildings.”
Tim nodded politely, “Of course, Superboy. It’s really expensive to rebuilding crumbling buildings.”
Kon laughed and turned to look at Danny, “And you must be Tim’s little brother! It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi. I’m-” Danny smiled politely, offered his hand out for Kon to shake, and took a few steps forward… right over the edge of the building.
“Woap!” Kon said, flying forwards slightly and taking Danny’s hand while using the contact to move Danny back onto the helicopter platform. “Man, is falling off of buildings a genetic trait?”
Danny laughed half-awkwardly, “Oh, sorry, I just, like, forgot the ground ended there.”
Kon laughed too, “No problem. I’ll be sure to catch both of you.” He said with a wink at Tim.
Tim cleared his throat and got back on track, “Right. But, you set something up for us to test that theory, right?”
Kon nodded, “Yep. Though, I’m surprised Wayne Industries doesn’t have a transdimensional radiation scanner.”
Damn it, come on Kon, Tim’s trying to play normal for Danny.
“Wayne Industries… that’s where you work at, isn’t it, Tim?”
“Yep! That’s where I am legally employed.” Tim said and tried to get Kon on the same page.
“Employed?” Kon asked confused, but Tim’s pretty sure he’s playing it up. “You own like, half the company.”
Tim face-palmed, and the look on Kon’s face meant he knew exactly what he was saying.
“Wait, like, own-own? Like, you’re The Guy In Charge?” Danny curiously asked.
“I don’t own most of it – we have over a hundred share owners. But me and Bruce are co-CEO’s, so we run the place. And, we developed some of the tech in the trans-dimensional radiation detector, but W.I. only has access to the prototypes, that have a high error rate, not the finished product, that was given to the Justice League for situations like this.” Tim tried to answer all questions and fill any plot holes so Danny wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
“Ah, that makes sense.” Kon said, meaning he was agreeing to play along with Tim’s normal guy act.
Danny just kinda looked at him for a moment, then said, “That’s pretty cool. Isn’t Wayne Industries one of the biggest companies in the world? And you’re just 18, that’s really impressive.”
“Thanks.” Tim said and gave Danny another head-pat, then turned back to Kon, “Now that that’s settled, where do we need to go from here?”
“Well, I can carry both of you over to Metropolis, if you want, or-” Kon pulled out a pair of blindfolds, “We can go the fun way.”
Tim tilted his head, he could guess, but he had to ask, “The fun way?”
Kon grinned at Danny, “Hey, you wanna use a teleporter?”
Danny grinned widely, “Yeah!”
“Wait, is that safe?” Tim said, but he made sure Kon heard “We can’t do that. Danny’s not in the system, and I don’t want him added.”
“Well, we use it all the time, and no one’s gotten hurt yet.” Kon answered, and didn’t get Tim’s meaning. But then he added, “Batman’s out of town, so it’s not like he’ll know we used his Zeta Tube.”
“What’s a Batman?” Danny asked.
Kon had the biggest look of shock on his face, then got a little too close to Tim, “You didn’t tell him about Batman?”
“I don’t want to scare him off.” Tim said through gritted teeth, trying not to shove Kon out of his personal space.
Kon grinned widely and turned back to Danny. “Listen, Batman is Gotham’s designated superhero, he’s got like, 20 sidekicks, no superpowers, which somehow makes him so much more scary. I wouldn’t be able to come hang out with you guys if he knew I was coming. He hates meta-humans.”
“No, he doesn’t hate meta-humans. He’s had 8 proteges, and more than one of them is a meta-human he helped train to use their meta-powers.” Tim corrected, at Danny to make sure he wouldn’t be scared of Batman – that would make things so much worse. But, then of course, he said to Kon, “He doesn’t like other Superheroes in his city because you get in the way as much as you help.”
“Sure.” Kon said with a knowing smile. “Still, you guys want to go the short way or long way to JL headquarters?”
“The teleporter – Zeta Tubes, right?” Danny asked and with a nod from Kon continued, “Are those the ones that kidnapped Martian Manhunter?”
Kon barked out a laugh and nodded, “Yeah! But that was, what? Thirty? Forty years ago?”
“I’m sure the glitches have been worked out.” Tim said.
Danny nodded and then slowly asked, “So, could someone, hypothetically, use one to visit Mars?”
“Not yet.” Tim answered before Kon could, “They only work on-world to low-orbit. You still have to use an actual ship for a couple months long trip in order to get to Mars.”
Danny nodded in understanding, “Okay, cool. Then whichever way you think it best, Tim.”
Tim smiled at the trust Danny had in him, “Right, then-”
“Zeta Tubes it is!” Kon interrupted and handed a blindfold to Danny and Tim, “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Danny took one only after Tim did, and Tim whispered to Kon, “You’re not taking us to the cave, are you?”
Kon shook his head and mouthed for Tim to read, “Public access tube.”
Tim nodded and put the blindfold on – then took it off while Danny was still wearing his.
“Hop on,” Kon said and pulled Danny into a piggyback ride, then held his hand out Tim to take. It was funny hearing Danny make all kinds of surprised sounds as Kon took them the short distance to the public access Zeta Tube.
Tim pretended to take his blindfold off when Danny did and Danny didn’t look impressed – “It’s a phone booth?”
“Well, no one uses them anymore,” Tim said, knowing that Danny came from just barely less advanced technology. Danny freaked out when Tim offered to get him a smart phone, saying Tim didn’t need to spend that much money on him, even when Tim explained that cell phones aren’t that expensive – hopefully now that he knows Tim’s rich, Danny will accept the phone.
“Really?” Danny asked and stared in wonder as Kon held the door open for Tim.
“You go first.” Kon said, with an implied, “and give Danny an access profile so he can use it in the future if there’s an emergency.”
Which, Tim nodded and went in first, coming out the other side in the Hall of Justice, and using the time-delay to make an access code for Danny that would label him a special civilian guest, not a random guy off the street nor a hero. And seconds later, Danny came through.
“Wow, that… feels interesting.” Danny said and looked back up at the Zeta Tube behind him.
“It tingles the first time.” Tim said cheerfully, then worried for a moment that he gave away his secret identity, but Danny didn’t seem to notice.
Danny hummed in agreement and rubbed his arms until the hair stopped standing on end while Kon came through.
“Alright, step one is done.” Kon said, then started walking away from the Zeta platform. “Now, to the lab!”
Tim walked next to Danny and enjoyed watching Danny’s face react to everything in the Hall of Justice. They weren’t in the museum part of it, but it was still a pretty cool place to walk around.
“It’s got spaceship vibes, right?” Tim offered.
“More like space station vibes, but yeah,” Danny agreed.
Then they got to one of the fairly normal examination rooms. It looked like a normal clinic office, just with a few extra examination machines. Danny looked a bit apprehensive about it. “Nervous about something? It’ll be toned down from a normal doctor’s check-up.”
Danny still looked worried and said, “I, um, I don’t…”
“What? Have you never been to a doctor before?” Kon teased, and then Danny nodded.
“Wait, seriously?” Tim asked.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “My parents just never found a doctor they liked, so they decided to take care of everything themselves.”
“How?” Tim asked before he even really registered what he’d said.
Danny shrugged, “They had a bunch of medical equipment as part of their research – so if Jazz and I got sick, they’d take care of it.”
Tim just kinda shared a look with Kon, because, “You’ve never, ever been to a doctor?”
“Maybe when I was really little?” Danny said, “Like, I had all the vaccinations that are required to go to school. And my parents even gave us extra ones to cover other stuff too.”
There was a beat of silence, and all Tim could say was, “Well, at least you’re vaccinated.”
Kon clapped his hands for attention and said, “Right, well, let’s get this dealt with, and then we can worry about – that.”
They got Danny onto the examination bench and Kon pulled out the scanner. He helpfully commented, “So, someone being dimensionally displaced has actually happened quite a bit.”
“Yeah, Tim said you witnessed the wave form collapse for that.”
“Witness is a way of saying that, yeah.” Kon answered and the scanner beeped to let them know that it didn’t need more information… and then it let them know that it was done comparing Danny’s signature to the database they had, fast enough that Tim and Kon already knew what the result was. The signature the machine matches against first.
There was a long beat of silence before Kon finally said, “Sorry, Danny, but – you’re from a dead timeline, there’s nowhere for you to go back to.”
Danny stared at him – stared past him at nothing, and it looked like he stopped breathing. Then Kon suddenly shouted and went to grab him, “Danny!”
Kon’s hand passed through Danny and he fell down through the examination bench – through it. He was panicking, still not breathing.
Tim practically jumped after him, not trying to touch him, but trying to get his attention, “Danny, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”
Danny started sinking into the floor, only stopping when Kon touched him, just a finger on his shoulder, to activate his tactile telekinesis and stop Danny from falling through the floor. Suddenly, a bright flash of light nearly blinded Tim and Danny was sitting there, in a black and white jumpsuit with white hair, tan skin, and green eyes – his entire body glowing, his eyes particularly bright.
Danny looked terrified, he clearly wasn’t in control. He was practically begging, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but it’s going to be okay.” Tim tried to reassure. Danny was a meta, it looked like he didn’t know he was a meta, it must have manifested during the two year memory gap.
“No, no, I can’t- I can’t be a ghost. My parents-”
“Danny!” Tim practically shouted and Danny finally focused on him. “Listen, Danny, whatever is going on, I’m going to be here for you. I promise, we will figure this out. You’re going to be okay, I’m going to take care of you.”
Danny stared at Tim for several minutes, then he suddenly breathed again. More light flashed and Danny was back to normal. And Tim suddenly found Danny grabbing onto him. Danny was mumbling and it took a few moments for Tim to realize he’s just repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.
Tim hugged Danny close and answered back to him, “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”
Once Danny got more control of himself, he let go of Tim and more consciously said, “Sorry.”
“It’s a lot to take in.” Tim commiserated. He looked up and it looked like Kon had let them have some alone time at some point. He took a breath and stood up, offering his hand to Danny, “Come on, lets go home.”
Danny looked pained – Tim should have picked a better word. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“Hey guys.” Kon was suddenly back in the room, “Ready to get outta here?”
Danny nodded and accepted Tim’s hand to stand back up. He was shaky and clearly exhausted, leaning on Tim for balance. They walked back to the Zeta platform, Danny stopped, and stumbled back a bit with fear in his eyes. “Danny, you okay?”
“Yeah, that’s – that’s what brought us here?”
Tim nodded, “Yeah, the one in Gotham has it’s structure hidden, but it’s the same thing.”
Danny was clearly still scared of it, and squeezed Tim’s hand to reassure himself. “We don’t have to use it if you don’t like it.”
“It’s fine.” Danny said and walked up to it.
Tim quickly made sure it was still connected to the “public” Gotham location and sent Danny back quickly. But, before Tim could go himself, Kon grabbed his hand. “Tim – Danny’s heart fully stopped, it was not beating for that entire panic attack. Everything else stopped too, for several minutes, his body was practically dead.”
Tim nodded in understanding, and walked through the Zeta Tube, “Thanks. I’ll figure it out.”
Kon didn’t follow them and Tim just called them a car back to the apartment. Danny was quiet, too quiet, dead quiet, until they got back into the apartment, where he apologized again. “I’m sorry, I just – don’t know what happened. One minute, I was fine and then I just… I don’t know.”
“Hey, it’s alright.” Tim said and pat Danny’s shoulder – he responds well to physical affection, so Tim will give him as much as he needs. “Like I said, we’ll figure it out together, and no matter what, I’m with you.”
Danny gave him a tired smile, then wandered off to his room.
Tim sighed and threw himself onto the couch. He wanted to scream because – that was a lot. Danny is from a dead timeline, everyone he’s ever known doesn’t exist anymore. Danny is a meta-human who can phase through solid objects and has some kind of second form. Danny can go several minutes with no vital signs at all.
Tim pressed his face into a pillow and groaned loudly into it. Then his phone buzzed, and he worried Kon was telling him something else about Danny, but it wasn’t him.
Tim opened the door. Bruce stepped in and Tim had to hold in a disappointed sigh. “Are those flowers?”
Bruce glanced at the bouquet of roses, “Maybe they are more romantic than I wanted, but it was all I could find last minute.”
Tim didn’t hold the sigh in that time, “Then maybe you should have waited.”
Bruce frowned at him – not just any frown, but the frown that meant he was worried and paranoid. Was it because he thought this was a scam and that Tim was completely falling for it? Did he really doubt Tim that much? Sure, his dad had only died a couple months ago, and then Damian showed up, and now this, but Tim was dealing really well with everything. He’s not compromised.
Bruce wouldn’t say the words out loud, but Tim heard them loud and clear anyway. “I’m just excited to meet your brother… and talk about how we’re going to spin this to the media.”
Tim rolled his eyes, as the two walked into the apartment’s main room. “It’s already leaked – nurses like to gossip. And I don’t see a problem with the media saying my dad had a secret love child.”
“You really want that to be your father’s reputation?” Bruce’s expression got soft as he passed the flowers to Tim to put in a vase – Tim wasn’t sure they had a vase there.
“Compared to what?” Tim asked as he started opening cabinets, looking for anything big enough for the bouquet, and looking at anything that wasn’t Bruce. “It’s not like he was known for being my father. Not until it was too late anyway.”
“We talking about dad?” Danny’s voice carried as he came into the room – still drying his hair with a towel.
“Yeah,” Tim answered and tried not to chuckle at Danny flailing around with the towel – taking twice as long to dry it and looking twice as silly. “It’s not like Jack was a bad person-”
“But he always did too little too late.” Danny finished as he pulled the towel off and his eyes suddenly went wide at Bruce.
Tim cringed and rubbed at the back of his neck, “Yeah, so you remember me talking about all that legal guardianship stuff, so I got adopted by my next door neighbor so people couldn’t usurp my authority with my parent’s company and my inheritance, and whatnot?”
Danny still just stared at Bruce. Not uncommon for people to do when they first meet the richest man in Gotham. Tim just hoped Danny’s powers didn’t activate – they were obviously a stress response, but the powers themselves made Danny more stressed and it was a hard cycle to break once it got started.
“Right, so this is Bruce Wayne! My legal guardian,” then Tim added with a sarcastic smile, “And he’ll probably want to be yours too.”
Suddenly, Danny grabbed Tim and started pulling him towards the nearest room with a door. “So sorry, Mr. Wayne, but I really need to talk to Tim for just- just a moment, promise.”
Tim and Bruce shot each other worried glances, but Tim let Danny drag him into the other room. Danny was suddenly freaking out. Breathing quickly, pacing the office, cold mist started forming at his mouth.
“Danny, what’s wrong?” Tim asked.
“I don’t-” Danny started, but then he stared off into the distance, the way he does when he suddenly remembers something like a power he’s supposed to have, or someone he didn’t remember meeting. “I- In my world, Bruce Wayne isn’t – he’s got this whole other hidden life. Like, in public, he’s this nice guy that does charity and looks too stupid to do anything wrong, but it’s a front! He – he’s-”
“Okay, hey Danny,” Tim waved a hand in front of Danny’s spaced out face and got his attention, “We’re going to be okay. Just breathe.”
Tim breathed with Danny to help him calm down because even if Danny knew Bruce was Batman, this level of fear of Batman was something only criminals tended to have. “Okay, explain slowly. What is Bruce Wayne in your world?”
Danny swallowed and breathed out a heavy sigh. “In my world, Bruce Wayne is the Dark King of Gotham who rules the criminal underworld with this – this undead thing called a Talon.”
After an accident of some sort flings an injured Danny to another universe, he gets brought in to a hospital for treatment.
While he’s unconscious, they run a genetic test to try to figure out who he is. It doesn’t find any exact matches, but it does flag him as the son of Jack Drake and an unknown woman.
Now, in actuality, this is because Jack Fenton is an alternate universe version of Jack Drake who followed a different path in life and married a different woman, but the hospital staff don’t know that.
So they come to the only logical conclusion: Danny must have been the child of an affair. And since Jack Drake is dead, he isn’t exactly around to contest that assumption.
And Tim… Tim has no idea what to think about this news.
Tim stared at the unconscious teen. He was found, heavily injured on the side of a road and police ruled it a hit-and-run... even though the doctors said his injuries were more aligned with being very close to an explosion than being hit by a car, but that's the only evidence of it. Not only that, but he's been unconscious since he was picked up, so they weren't getting any explanations from him. The hospital ran his DNA as a last-ditch effort to find out where he'd come from - and Tim was the only living relative they could contact.
There were side-eyes and gossip surrounding this whole situation. John Doe still only partially matched with Jack and Tim, there was no blood shared with Janet, and no match to anyone else in the hospital database - or the Bat-database, yet, but it was big enough it could take weeks to go through the entire library. And looking at him... Yeah, Tim could see the resemblance.
Tim could 100% buy that this John Doe was his brother. They shared the Drake babyface, if their age estimates were correct, he was about two years younger than Tim. But accepting that meant accepting that his dad... Tim knows his dad would never have cheated on his mom, but this kid had to have come from -
A whimper came from the kid in the hospital bed, Tim jumped up to watch as he finally woke up after a three day coma. "Hey, kid -"
"Gah!" The kid started panicking and tried to pull the IV out of his hand.
Tim grabbed his hand to stop him, "Hang on! It's just fluids to keep you hydrated. you've been out for like, three days."
The kid looked up at Tim in confusion. His voice was rough around the words, "Three days?"
"Yeah." Tim said and let go now that he seemed calm. "What's your name?"
The kid stared at him with eyes slowly growing with worry, "I'm Danny."
"Last name?"
Fear flashed across his face and Danny ducked his head in shame. "I... um..."
"It's alright if you don't remember right away." Tim said and Danny looked back up at him. "The police say you got hit by a truck. Do you remember that?"
Danny looked ... hopeful? for some reason? "No, I feel like I got hit by a truck but I don't remember it."
"How about how old you are?"
"Uh..." Danny seemed to need to actually think about it, "I just turned fourteen, I think."
"Oh, I see." Tim said, though, given what the doctors said, Danny should be closer to 16. "I'll let the nurses know. Is there anything else? How much pain are you in, do you need more painkillers?"
Danny blinked at him, "Do I know you? You look really familiar."
Tim tried to smile, "Not really, this is our first time meeting."
"Okay. It was nice to meet you- um?"
"Tim, Timothy Drake." He said and extended his hand to Danny. "It's nice to meet you too, Danny."
Tim turned to leave, but Danny got his attention again, "Wait, Tim, if you're not a nurse or whatever, why are you here?"
Tim was going to wait until after the nurses gave Danny a check-up and make sure he's actually fine. But, Danny did ask, so, "Well, according to our DNA, I'm your half-brother."
"Huh..." Danny said and stared confused at Tim for what felt like several minutes before saying. "I always wanted a brother. Cool."
Tim nodded and smiled then left to get the nurse's attention. He's not entirely sure Danny understood what was going on - and they should probably check his brain for damage.
Danny sat on the couch of Tim’s too big apartment. He insisted it wasn’t a penthouse, but it had three bedrooms, one converted into an office for Tim to work in, as well as a den, an open-plan living room kitchen space, two and a half bathrooms, and direct access to a private pool, gym, and arcade. It was too much space for one guy, in Danny’s opinion, but at least it wasn’t one frootloop in a castle over-the-top.
“Burgers are here!” Tim chimed as he re-entered from the entry hall – there was an entry hall.
Danny started to get up, but Tim waved at him to sit down again and set the delivery bags on the coffee table in front of Danny. “I got it. You’re is the super deluxe burger with fries and a pop.” He handed Danny a box, then a bag, and a cup. “Don’t know why you wanted a fountain drink, we’ve got plenty in the fridge.”
Danny shrugged, “I guess I like when it has cardboard taste in it.”
Tim nodded, less like he understood and more like he couldn’t argue, then took his own food and sat down on the couch next to Danny but with plenty of space between them. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate their burgers, then Tim suddenly asked, “So, you like your room? I know it looks hotel-impersonal right now, but we can get some decorations for it when we go get you more clothes.”
“Right.” Danny took another bite of burger so he didn’t have to talk. He didn’t want to have to stay there long enough to need more clothes or decorate a room. But he couldn’t be rude, Tim was just trying to help him out.
After a few more minutes, Tim cleared his throat and said, “So, what kinds of things do you like? Hobbies or interests or?”
Danny tried to stay chill as he said, “I’m kinda into astronomy.”
“Oo, the solar system or deep-space?”
“Yeah, so,” Danny found himself rubbing the back of his neck and looking at the floor. People generally loose interest once he starts explaining too much, “I’ve kinda wanted to be an astronaut my entire life and have worked on engineering and stuff like that. Back home, I’ve got model rockets and blueprints for shuttles, and prints of my favorite galaxies.”
“What are your favorite galaxies?”
“The Milky Way, of course.”
Danny paused to take a breath and Tim repeated “of course.”
“And also, uh Hoag’s Object which is a ring galaxy. The Tadpole galaxy, which is a disrupted spiral galaxy so it looks like it’s got a tail sticking out of it. The Godzilla galaxy, which is the biggest galaxy we’ve observed so far.” Danny gave the short version, and since Tim looked like he was actually still listening, Danny continued, “There were also two prints of dark matter globules, “God’s Finger” and “God’s Hand” – and I still had one of my first posters of the solar system, the one with Zoove on it – the temporary quasi-satellite of Venus, but I kept my official solar system map up-to-date. And a simplified schematic of the Hartman 2 – it was a rocket launched on my birthday when I was seven, but I was too young to know that it wasn’t a NASA mission, it was just a rich guy’s vanity project that barely left the launchpad.”
“Hate it when that happens.” Tim commented and Danny laughed with him. “But this is all good to know, would you want a map of Mars too? I know how to get an accurate one, with all the cities and stuff labeled.”
Danny’s eyes lit up, “There are cities on Mars?”
Tim chuckled, “Yeah, our Martians made contact some time ago – on accident, actually.”
“Martians are real?” Danny literally had to grab his head with this new information.
“Yeah, a couple of decades ago, there was a near-extinction event,” Tim said and turned on the TV – that connected to the internet, and pulled up new articles on The Martian Manhunter, and Earth’s Sister Planet. “Manhunter – which is just kinda what they call police on Mars – he got nabbed by an experimental teleportation device and got stranded here on Earth. He’d got trapped in the beginning of a huge plague that we now know killed almost two thirds the Martian population. Their entire society pretty much collapsed and they’ve been trying to rebuild ever since, but it’s slow-going. Our technology has actually really been rapidly increasing ever since we found out too, both so that Manhunter could get back home and also so we can help the Martians.”
Danny had gotten up off the couch to get closer to the screen – almost too close to be able to read it. “Years? More than two?”
Tim gave a slightly hurt smile, “Yeah, is any memory coming back?”
Danny didn’t answer, just turned back to skim more of the articles in front of him. Something itched at the back of Danny’s head, and he didn’t even realize he’d spoken when he asked, “Where’s Dad?”
Tim had shown Danny his dad, Jack Drake, and it was just Danny’s dad, Jack Fenton. It made no sense and Danny assumed that the first thing Tim would want to do is confront Jack Drake about a seemingly secret child, from a seemingly second family. But Danny hadn’t seen or heard from the man at all, and the apartment was Tim’s, no parents or siblings to be found.
“Right…” Tim said and started to pick up the trash of their lunch. “Dad died a couple years ago. Mom too a little before that.”
“Oh, I’m-” Danny turned to look at him, but Tim was already walking into the kitchen. “Sorry.”
Tim shrugged. “In all honesty – I probably don’t miss him as much as I should. He tried to be a good dad, but only after Mom died. And I just, wasn’t ready for it. Neither of them had been hugely present in my life. They loved me, and took care of me, but they were busy with work, so…”
Danny sighed, “yeah, me too.”
Then he realized, he didn’t want Tim to get the wrong idea, “Wait, but my dad isn’t dead? He’s-” Danny suddenly felt something wrong, “alive…”
“Is he?” Tim asked, then noticed Danny’s confusion. “Are you okay?”
“I- I just felt it…” Danny said, trying to put his feelings into words. “I can feel there’s something missing… I didn’t really believe it before, but I can feel a hole in my memory. Something should be there, but it’s not… I don’t – I don’t know if my dad’s still alive or not.”
Tim sighed sadly, “So… I’ve also been asking around, and I’ve got a theory about all this.”
Danny gave him a confused look, unsure if this was a desperate attempt at distraction to stop Danny from spiraling or what. "A theory?"
"Yeah, so I personally know Superboy."
Imagine being rich enough you could call some superman to come figure out why you have a half-brother, like the obvious solution doesn't exist.
"And a couple of years ago, there was a bit of an... issue? Where a bunch of parallel realities were collapsing for reasons I'm still not fully sure of - but it was kind of like... do you know what a wave function collapse is?"
"Schrodinger's Cat stuff, right?"
"Exactly! So, there were a whole bunch of parallel worlds that collapsed into one reality, but it didn't do that cleanly." Tim continued. "Some people who should be dead are alive, some people exist who's parents don't, and so on."
"You... think I'm a leftover of a reality that doesn't exist anymore?"
"It's just my current working theory!" Tim defended, "But it's really hard to check that kind of thing, but our dad is the same guy, just a little different. Your home city doesn't exist, but Gotham City has existed for both of us. Your Mars doesn't have Martians on it, the minute differences in our timelines might have just made it not as lucky as ours. And, you know, Dad would never cheat on Mom like that."
Danny didn't want to believe that, but everything Tim was saying made sense. There were discrepancies in the reality Danny knew, but, his entire reality? All his friends and family and even the people he didn't like but would still miss? "I don't want my home to have never existed."
"It's just a theory!"
"That some superman told you?"
"Superboy," tim corrected, "he witnessed the form collapse."
Danny rubbed his face and sighed, "And how... how would you prove this?"
Tim looked like he was completely sure already, but offered, "There's a special type of radiation that people from parallel realities give off - it's usually unique to their reality, but if someone's from a... "dead" timeline, that all registers as the same even if the individuals are from different realities."
"Okay, so, how do we test for that radiation?"
"I'll call Superboy. He should be able to connect us to someone who has the tech that can do that!" Tim said cheerefully. "And if not, if you're from a living reality, we'll be able to get you back home."
Danny nodded, but again... "I don't really believe all this. Like, parallel dimensions and stuff? It's just, sci-fi bullshit." Danny said, but the look on Tim's face was, sad. It was almost the condescending look Dad would give Danny when he said ghosts were 100% real even though they'd never actually seen one. "But, I guess it's worth looking into."
"Don't worry, Danny. No matter what happens, I'll be here to take care of you."
Danny got a wave of positive emotions from that, literally just good vibes he couldn't define if asked. Jazz had said the exact same thing to him, all the time, and it felt like, even if she wasn't physically there, her spirit was...
Tim sat on top of the building’s helicopter pad with Danny, waiting for Kon to show up. As far as Tim could tell, Danny was fully just a civilian, which was good, Tim liked being normal around his new brother and not having to worry about being stabbed or dragged onto missions or worry about if he’s going to go missing for several days at a time and come back with broken bones. And, it gave him an excuse to stay away from the rest of Bruce’s gaggle of children. He warned that if they overwhelmed him, Tim would ruin their social lives for the next month.
“So, when you say Superboy is an alien, how alien are we talking?” Danny asked, still looking at the photo of Kon “saving” Tim from a rogue attack. “Because his photo just looks like a guy.”
“We’re literally seventeen stories up in that photo.” Tim commented.
“That’s not…” Danny started, but then got that distant look on his face he gets sometimes. Tim thinks he’s remembering stuff, but he’s not sharing. “Actually, that is impressive, isn’t it?”
“Duh! yeah, it is.” Tim said and ruffled Danny’s hair, that Danny seemed to like. “He can fly! And lift cars, and shot lasers out of his eyes!”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s cool – just not very alien.” Danny said, but he was smiling again, teasing even.
“Sorry not all aliens look like the xenomorph,” Tim said, but then something moved in the corner of his vision, and he turned to see a familiar jumpsuit flying towards him, “But speaking of.”
Tim waved at the quickly approaching dot and Kon came to a stop in front of them. “Hey there, Tim. Nice to see you took my advice of not falling off crumbling buildings.”
Tim nodded politely, “Of course, Superboy. It’s really expensive to rebuilding crumbling buildings.”
Kon laughed and turned to look at Danny, “And you must be Tim’s little brother! It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hi. I’m-” Danny smiled politely, offered his hand out for Kon to shake, and took a few steps forward… right over the edge of the building.
“Woap!” Kon said, flying forwards slightly and taking Danny’s hand while using the contact to move Danny back onto the helicopter platform. “Man, is falling off of buildings a genetic trait?”
Danny laughed half-awkwardly, “Oh, sorry, I just, like, forgot the ground ended there.”
Kon laughed too, “No problem. I’ll be sure to catch both of you.” He said with a wink at Tim.
Tim cleared his throat and got back on track, “Right. But, you set something up for us to test that theory, right?”
Kon nodded, “Yep. Though, I’m surprised Wayne Industries doesn’t have a transdimensional radiation scanner.”
Damn it, come on Kon, Tim’s trying to play normal for Danny.
“Wayne Industries… that’s where you work at, isn’t it, Tim?”
“Yep! That’s where I am legally employed.” Tim said and tried to get Kon on the same page.
“Employed?” Kon asked confused, but Tim’s pretty sure he’s playing it up. “You own like, half the company.”
Tim face-palmed, and the look on Kon’s face meant he knew exactly what he was saying.
“Wait, like, own-own? Like, you’re The Guy In Charge?” Danny curiously asked.
“I don’t own most of it – we have over a hundred share owners. But me and Bruce are co-CEO’s, so we run the place. And, we developed some of the tech in the trans-dimensional radiation detector, but W.I. only has access to the prototypes, that have a high error rate, not the finished product, that was given to the Justice League for situations like this.” Tim tried to answer all questions and fill any plot holes so Danny wouldn’t get the wrong idea.
“Ah, that makes sense.” Kon said, meaning he was agreeing to play along with Tim’s normal guy act.
Danny just kinda looked at him for a moment, then said, “That’s pretty cool. Isn’t Wayne Industries one of the biggest companies in the world? And you’re just 18, that’s really impressive.”
“Thanks.” Tim said and gave Danny another head-pat, then turned back to Kon, “Now that that’s settled, where do we need to go from here?”
“Well, I can carry both of you over to Metropolis, if you want, or-” Kon pulled out a pair of blindfolds, “We can go the fun way.”
Tim tilted his head, he could guess, but he had to ask, “The fun way?”
Kon grinned at Danny, “Hey, you wanna use a teleporter?”
Danny grinned widely, “Yeah!”
“Wait, is that safe?” Tim said, but he made sure Kon heard “We can’t do that. Danny’s not in the system, and I don’t want him added.”
“Well, we use it all the time, and no one’s gotten hurt yet.” Kon answered, and didn’t get Tim’s meaning. But then he added, “Batman’s out of town, so it’s not like he’ll know we used his Zeta Tube.”
“What’s a Batman?” Danny asked.
Kon had the biggest look of shock on his face, then got a little too close to Tim, “You didn’t tell him about Batman?”
“I don’t want to scare him off.” Tim said through gritted teeth, trying not to shove Kon out of his personal space.
Kon grinned widely and turned back to Danny. “Listen, Batman is Gotham’s designated superhero, he’s got like, 20 sidekicks, no superpowers, which somehow makes him so much more scary. I wouldn’t be able to come hang out with you guys if he knew I was coming. He hates meta-humans.”
“No, he doesn’t hate meta-humans. He’s had 8 proteges, and more than one of them is a meta-human he helped train to use their meta-powers.” Tim corrected, at Danny to make sure he wouldn’t be scared of Batman – that would make things so much worse. But, then of course, he said to Kon, “He doesn’t like other Superheroes in his city because you get in the way as much as you help.”
“Sure.” Kon said with a knowing smile. “Still, you guys want to go the short way or long way to JL headquarters?”
“The teleporter – Zeta Tubes, right?” Danny asked and with a nod from Kon continued, “Are those the ones that kidnapped Martian Manhunter?”
Kon barked out a laugh and nodded, “Yeah! But that was, what? Thirty? Forty years ago?”
“I’m sure the glitches have been worked out.” Tim said.
Danny nodded and then slowly asked, “So, could someone, hypothetically, use one to visit Mars?”
“Not yet.” Tim answered before Kon could, “They only work on-world to low-orbit. You still have to use an actual ship for a couple months long trip in order to get to Mars.”
Danny nodded in understanding, “Okay, cool. Then whichever way you think it best, Tim.”
Tim smiled at the trust Danny had in him, “Right, then-”
“Zeta Tubes it is!” Kon interrupted and handed a blindfold to Danny and Tim, “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Danny took one only after Tim did, and Tim whispered to Kon, “You’re not taking us to the cave, are you?”
Kon shook his head and mouthed for Tim to read, “Public access tube.”
Tim nodded and put the blindfold on – then took it off while Danny was still wearing his.
“Hop on,” Kon said and pulled Danny into a piggyback ride, then held his hand out Tim to take. It was funny hearing Danny make all kinds of surprised sounds as Kon took them the short distance to the public access Zeta Tube.
Tim pretended to take his blindfold off when Danny did and Danny didn’t look impressed – “It’s a phone booth?”
“Well, no one uses them anymore,” Tim said, knowing that Danny came from just barely less advanced technology. Danny freaked out when Tim offered to get him a smart phone, saying Tim didn’t need to spend that much money on him, even when Tim explained that cell phones aren’t that expensive – hopefully now that he knows Tim’s rich, Danny will accept the phone.
“Really?” Danny asked and stared in wonder as Kon held the door open for Tim.
“You go first.” Kon said, with an implied, “and give Danny an access profile so he can use it in the future if there’s an emergency.”
Which, Tim nodded and went in first, coming out the other side in the Hall of Justice, and using the time-delay to make an access code for Danny that would label him a special civilian guest, not a random guy off the street nor a hero. And seconds later, Danny came through.
“Wow, that… feels interesting.” Danny said and looked back up at the Zeta Tube behind him.
“It tingles the first time.” Tim said cheerfully, then worried for a moment that he gave away his secret identity, but Danny didn’t seem to notice.
Danny hummed in agreement and rubbed his arms until the hair stopped standing on end while Kon came through.
“Alright, step one is done.” Kon said, then started walking away from the Zeta platform. “Now, to the lab!”
Tim walked next to Danny and enjoyed watching Danny’s face react to everything in the Hall of Justice. They weren’t in the museum part of it, but it was still a pretty cool place to walk around.
“It’s got spaceship vibes, right?” Tim offered.
“More like space station vibes, but yeah,” Danny agreed.
Then they got to one of the fairly normal examination rooms. It looked like a normal clinic office, just with a few extra examination machines. Danny looked a bit apprehensive about it. “Nervous about something? It’ll be toned down from a normal doctor’s check-up.”
Danny still looked worried and said, “I, um, I don’t…”
“What? Have you never been to a doctor before?” Kon teased, and then Danny nodded.
“Wait, seriously?” Tim asked.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “My parents just never found a doctor they liked, so they decided to take care of everything themselves.”
“How?” Tim asked before he even really registered what he’d said.
Danny shrugged, “They had a bunch of medical equipment as part of their research – so if Jazz and I got sick, they’d take care of it.”
Tim just kinda shared a look with Kon, because, “You’ve never, ever been to a doctor?”
“Maybe when I was really little?” Danny said, “Like, I had all the vaccinations that are required to go to school. And my parents even gave us extra ones to cover other stuff too.”
There was a beat of silence, and all Tim could say was, “Well, at least you’re vaccinated.”
Kon clapped his hands for attention and said, “Right, well, let’s get this dealt with, and then we can worry about – that.”
They got Danny onto the examination bench and Kon pulled out the scanner. He helpfully commented, “So, someone being dimensionally displaced has actually happened quite a bit.”
“Yeah, Tim said you witnessed the wave form collapse for that.”
“Witness is a way of saying that, yeah.” Kon answered and the scanner beeped to let them know that it didn’t need more information… and then it let them know that it was done comparing Danny’s signature to the database they had, fast enough that Tim and Kon already knew what the result was. The signature the machine matches against first.
There was a long beat of silence before Kon finally said, “Sorry, Danny, but – you’re from a dead timeline, there’s nowhere for you to go back to.”
Danny stared at him – stared past him at nothing, and it looked like he stopped breathing. Then Kon suddenly shouted and went to grab him, “Danny!”
Kon’s hand passed through Danny and he fell down through the examination bench – through it. He was panicking, still not breathing.
Tim practically jumped after him, not trying to touch him, but trying to get his attention, “Danny, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”
Danny started sinking into the floor, only stopping when Kon touched him, just a finger on his shoulder, to activate his tactile telekinesis and stop Danny from falling through the floor. Suddenly, a bright flash of light nearly blinded Tim and Danny was sitting there, in a black and white jumpsuit with white hair, tan skin, and green eyes – his entire body glowing, his eyes particularly bright.
Danny looked terrified, he clearly wasn’t in control. He was practically begging, “What’s happening? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but it’s going to be okay.” Tim tried to reassure. Danny was a meta, it looked like he didn’t know he was a meta, it must have manifested during the two year memory gap.
“No, no, I can’t- I can’t be a ghost. My parents-”
“Danny!” Tim practically shouted and Danny finally focused on him. “Listen, Danny, whatever is going on, I’m going to be here for you. I promise, we will figure this out. You’re going to be okay, I’m going to take care of you.”
Danny stared at Tim for several minutes, then he suddenly breathed again. More light flashed and Danny was back to normal. And Tim suddenly found Danny grabbing onto him. Danny was mumbling and it took a few moments for Tim to realize he’s just repeating “I’m sorry” over and over again.
Tim hugged Danny close and answered back to him, “It’s okay. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.”
Once Danny got more control of himself, he let go of Tim and more consciously said, “Sorry.”
“It’s a lot to take in.” Tim commiserated. He looked up and it looked like Kon had let them have some alone time at some point. He took a breath and stood up, offering his hand to Danny, “Come on, lets go home.”
Danny looked pained – Tim should have picked a better word. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”
“Hey guys.” Kon was suddenly back in the room, “Ready to get outta here?”
Danny nodded and accepted Tim’s hand to stand back up. He was shaky and clearly exhausted, leaning on Tim for balance. They walked back to the Zeta platform, Danny stopped, and stumbled back a bit with fear in his eyes. “Danny, you okay?”
“Yeah, that’s – that’s what brought us here?”
Tim nodded, “Yeah, the one in Gotham has it’s structure hidden, but it’s the same thing.”
Danny was clearly still scared of it, and squeezed Tim’s hand to reassure himself. “We don’t have to use it if you don’t like it.”
“It’s fine.” Danny said and walked up to it.
Tim quickly made sure it was still connected to the “public” Gotham location and sent Danny back quickly. But, before Tim could go himself, Kon grabbed his hand. “Tim – Danny’s heart fully stopped, it was not beating for that entire panic attack. Everything else stopped too, for several minutes, his body was practically dead.”
Tim nodded in understanding, and walked through the Zeta Tube, “Thanks. I’ll figure it out.”
Kon didn’t follow them and Tim just called them a car back to the apartment. Danny was quiet, too quiet, dead quiet, until they got back into the apartment, where he apologized again. “I’m sorry, I just – don’t know what happened. One minute, I was fine and then I just… I don’t know.”
“Hey, it’s alright.” Tim said and pat Danny’s shoulder – he responds well to physical affection, so Tim will give him as much as he needs. “Like I said, we’ll figure it out together, and no matter what, I’m with you.”
Danny gave him a tired smile, then wandered off to his room.
Tim sighed and threw himself onto the couch. He wanted to scream because – that was a lot. Danny is from a dead timeline, everyone he’s ever known doesn’t exist anymore. Danny is a meta-human who can phase through solid objects and has some kind of second form. Danny can go several minutes with no vital signs at all.
Tim pressed his face into a pillow and groaned loudly into it. Then his phone buzzed, and he worried Kon was telling him something else about Danny, but it wasn’t him.
Tim opened the door. Bruce stepped in and Tim had to hold in a disappointed sigh. “Are those flowers?”
Bruce glanced at the bouquet of roses, “Maybe they are more romantic than I wanted, but it was all I could find last minute.”
Tim didn’t hold the sigh in that time, “Then maybe you should have waited.”
Bruce frowned at him – not just any frown, but the frown that meant he was worried and paranoid. Was it because he thought this was a scam and that Tim was completely falling for it? Did he really doubt Tim that much? Sure, his dad had only died a couple months ago, and then Damian showed up, and now this, but Tim was dealing really well with everything. He’s not compromised.
Bruce wouldn’t say the words out loud, but Tim heard them loud and clear anyway. “I’m just excited to meet your brother… and talk about how we’re going to spin this to the media.”
Tim rolled his eyes, as the two walked into the apartment’s main room. “It’s already leaked – nurses like to gossip. And I don’t see a problem with the media saying my dad had a secret love child.”
“You really want that to be your father’s reputation?” Bruce’s expression got soft as he passed the flowers to Tim to put in a vase – Tim wasn’t sure they had a vase there.
“Compared to what?” Tim asked as he started opening cabinets, looking for anything big enough for the bouquet, and looking at anything that wasn’t Bruce. “It’s not like he was known for being my father. Not until it was too late anyway.”
“We talking about dad?” Danny’s voice carried as he came into the room – still drying his hair with a towel.
“Yeah,” Tim answered and tried not to chuckle at Danny flailing around with the towel – taking twice as long to dry it and looking twice as silly. “It’s not like Jack was a bad person-”
“But he always did too little too late.” Danny finished as he pulled the towel off and his eyes suddenly went wide at Bruce.
Tim cringed and rubbed at the back of his neck, “Yeah, so you remember me talking about all that legal guardianship stuff, so I got adopted by my next door neighbor so people couldn’t usurp my authority with my parent’s company and my inheritance, and whatnot?”
Danny still just stared at Bruce. Not uncommon for people to do when they first meet the richest man in Gotham. Tim just hoped Danny’s powers didn’t activate – they were obviously a stress response, but the powers themselves made Danny more stressed and it was a hard cycle to break once it got started.
“Right, so this is Bruce Wayne! My legal guardian,” then Tim added with a sarcastic smile, “And he’ll probably want to be yours too.”
Suddenly, Danny grabbed Tim and started pulling him towards the nearest room with a door. “So sorry, Mr. Wayne, but I really need to talk to Tim for just- just a moment, promise.”
Tim and Bruce shot each other worried glances, but Tim let Danny drag him into the other room. Danny was suddenly freaking out. Breathing quickly, pacing the office, cold mist started forming at his mouth.
“Danny, what’s wrong?” Tim asked.
“I don’t-” Danny started, but then he stared off into the distance, the way he does when he suddenly remembers something like a power he’s supposed to have, or someone he didn’t remember meeting. “I- In my world, Bruce Wayne isn’t – he’s got this whole other hidden life. Like, in public, he’s this nice guy that does charity and looks too stupid to do anything wrong, but it’s a front! He – he’s-”
“Okay, hey Danny,” Tim waved a hand in front of Danny’s spaced out face and got his attention, “We’re going to be okay. Just breathe.”
Tim breathed with Danny to help him calm down because even if Danny knew Bruce was Batman, this level of fear of Batman was something only criminals tended to have. “Okay, explain slowly. What is Bruce Wayne in your world?”
Danny swallowed and breathed out a heavy sigh. “In my world, Bruce Wayne is the Dark King of Gotham who rules the criminal underworld with this – this undead thing called a Talon.”
Danny opens the door to a crowd of the most bizarre group of people to ever visit his door. A woman wearing armor, a man wearing a pilot outfit, a man in a suit with a reporter's hat, and a red-headed guy in a tooth fairy outfit. He blinks at them as the one fairy outfit beams smugly, "We found you, Bats! Now you have to wear whatever outfit I want. I bet you'll look great dressed as the New Year's Baby! Diaper and everything!"
Danny slowly looks at the others, trying to figure out if this was a new method to get him to join a church. "I think you have the wrong house." The reporter taps his ear with an apologetic smile. "Nope. Your heart rate is the same speed when you're in the cape. Sorry, Batman, we found you."
Danny's eyebrows shoot up. "Someone's heart is as slow as mine? Are they dying?"
The woman sighs, holding up a glowing rope. "We can do this the hard way if you don't want to admit it." She ties it around his wrist before he can protest and then demands, "Are you Batman?" to which Danny gives out a very fast "no," as if the reply was punched out of him against his will. The group stiffened in alarm, going wide-eyed before apologizing and leaving as fast as they arrived.
Danny watches them go, more confused than ever before. He closes the door and returns to the living room where his date is waiting. "Sorry, Bruce, I just had the oddest visitors."
Bruce Wayne smiles at him over the brim of his wine cup, a twinkle in his eyes as if he were laughing at a private joke.
A cat is a small creature in the middle of the food chain that is fully aware that you are a very large thing that could stomp its head in at any moment and yet it chooses to rest its tiny little head on your leg for a nap and spreads out on the floor near you exposing its belly and its most sensitive organs. It brings dead mice and bugs to you to share food.
Don’t you get it? This tiny thing trusts you. It wants to help you too. It licks your leg thinking that it’s helping. It kneads on you to find comfort. It shares its body warmth with you in the cold and gives you your space in the heat. It hisses at other mammals it sees outside including other cats in an effort to protect its family.
Cats love you so so much. But they will keep trying to eat plastic.
Danny is a homeless street rat laying low in Gotham when he notices that the local crime lord/anti-hero is suffering from ectoplasmic corruption. Danny is in-hiding but he can’t just let someone suffer when he could help. He comes up with a plan to help without revealing his nature as a half-ghost. He builds ecto-blasters for the Red Hood, calibrated to siphon off the corrupted ectoplasm.
Jason isn’t sure what to do with a kid offering him high-tech weapons, but he sure isn’t going to let the kid ply his trade with some other criminal or, god forbid, a rogue. He sets him up in a safe house with a stipend without really intending to use the things he made. But it turned out the blasters he made packed a serious punch.
Bruce: I wish I could stay away but I can't deny the grip your secret sauce has on me.
Danny: I'm glad you like it so much. Your regular order of fries and chicken strips smothered in green chili sauce?
Bruce: Please and thank you. Say, Danny, how are you?
Danny: I'm 22.
Bruce: Are you single?
Danny: Er...I am?
Bruce: Lovely, I have children near your age. I would be mighty proud if you dated one. What are you into, girls? Boys? Both?
Danny: Oh, Mr. Wayne, I'm flattered really but I'm not looking for a relationship right now.
Bruce leaning over the coutner: I will have that Fenton Family sauce recipe boy, even if I have to pay for the wedding myself.
Danny: I'm sorry Mr Wayne but I wouldn't give my spouse the recipe either. Only my children can have it as per the family tradition.
Bruce: Blood or adopted?
Danny: Both are acceptable
Bruce: My children can either birth you a child or help you adopt one. Just say the word. I have on speed dial a guy that can make ward placements like that *snaps*
Danny: .....No Mr.Wayne. If you excuse me I have to cook your food
Bruce desperately: MY CHILDREN ARE GORGEOUS! THEY'VE BEEN ON SO MANY MAGAZINE COVERS. JUST LET ME SET IT UP. YOU CAN GIVE ME SO MANY GRANDBABIES! PLEASE!
Danny who thinks the bats know and are just really good at the whole secret idenities thing.
Batman who has no idea becausd they all think danny is undead like redhood is undead, like everyone whos died and came back undead: we think it would be good if you were there when we meet the high king of the infinite realms
Danny who can duplicate himself: ...okay?
Batman introducing the king to the members of the leauge and politicians and also we hope you dont mind danny is here as a consultant
Danny who has to shake his own hand:... how could I possibly mind? (they think hes offended because hes bad at lying)
Danny who makes death jokes at himself and the leauge are so worried hes offended the king but then the king joins in
Danny Fenton stopped screaming sometime between the sirens and the smoke.
Nasty Burger burned down to its foundations in less than ten minutes. The official reports called it a gas leak. The unofficial ones—whispered by EMTs and police who’d seen green fire crawl up the walls—never made it to paper.
Jazz, Jack, and Maddie Fenton were gone.
Sam.
Tucker.
Mr.Lancer.
Everyone who had ever known Danny as Danny died in that booth with the cracked vinyl seats and the flickering menu board.
Danny didn’t cry at the funeral. Didn’t scream. Didn’t even shake.
He smiled.
Vlad Masters took him in with the practiced sympathy of a man who had waited years for this exact tragedy. Soft words. Silk sheets. Promises of family and guidance and becoming what you were meant to be.
Danny knew how that future ended. Dan was trapped in a thermos locked away in the time keepers' tower.
He’d seen it in Vlad’s eyes—control disguised as love, possession dressed up as mentorship. A gilded cage with ghost-proof bars.
So Danny did the only thing his grief-ravaged mind could come up with.
He broke.
Not in the loud way. Not rage, not tears.
Something inside him simply… slipped its leash.
He laughed at nothing. Stared through walls. Spoke in flat, empty tones before exploding into sudden, bone-breaking violence. He phased through doors just to slam them behind him. He shattered lab equipment with careless flicks of glowing fingers. When Vlad tried to restrain him, Danny turned the tables and had Vlad strapped down in the same way he had done to Danny so many times.
Danny smiled wide and cold and asked, very politely, how Vlad enjoyed being powerless. He finally had Danny, wasn't it everything he ever wanted? Vlad trembled, and Danny's smile grew wider and sharper as he tasted the fear rolling off of the older Halfa.
Vlad lasted three weeks.
Three weeks of sleepless nights. Three weeks of reinforced walls and emergency protocols. Three weeks of realizing that the boy he’d wanted as a son was now a hollow, unpredictable thing wearing Danny Fenton’s face.
The paperwork was signed with shaking hands.
Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
Best psychiatric facility in the country.
Vlad didn’t visit after that.
The cell door clanged shut with a final, echoing boom.
Danny sat on the bed, wrists cuffed in glowing dampeners, and grinned.
Sure, Arkham was basically a prison. Concrete walls, barred doors, guards who watched like hawks. But it wasn’t Vlad’s house. It wasn’t full of expectations and manipulation and that suffocating mine feeling.
And honestly?
Arkham wasn’t that bad.
The food was incredible compared to whatever his parents used to burn. He could sleep as long as he wanted without alarms or experiments. No one expected him to be anything at all.
And the people?
Oh, the people were interesting.
Harley Quinn brought him pudding cups and talked nonstop, like silence physically hurt her. Pamela Isley—Dr. Ivy—spoke softly about plants and decay and rebirth, and never once looked at him like he was broken beyond repair. They didn’t flinch when his eyes glowed. Didn’t demand explanations.
They just… accepted.
With his powers, Danny could leave whenever he wanted. Phase through walls. Slip past guards. Vanish into the night.
He just didn’t feel like it.
Peace was a locked door and a scheduled routine. Peace was no one expecting him to care.
The only annoyance was Batman.
He showed up like clockwork—looming shadows, gravel voice, cape like a threat.
“You don’t belong here,” Batman said during their first meeting. “You’re a victim.”
Danny floated upside down, feet hooked through the bed frame, grinning at him.
“No thanks. I’m good.”
“You could have a better life.”
Danny’s smile sharpened. “Tried that. Didn’t like the ending.”
Batman came back again. And again. With therapists, with offers, with plans and contingencies and hope Danny didn’t want.
Each time, Danny refused.
Because Arkham was quiet. Predictable. Safe in its own twisted way.
And Danny Fenton—Danny Phantom—was just fine right where he was.
He didn't even read the sticky note. He's just floating there staring straight ahead as if he didn't get thunked and makes no move to pick up the green sticky note
He didn't read the sticky note because he didn't need to. Clockwork has been recycling the same Sticky Note of Approval since the first time Danny stopped to ask himself whether or not Clockwork would approve of something post TUE. The sticky note in question is immediately recognizable at this point because it has been crumbled, torn, stained, etc but it is still "intact" enough to be used. What is written on it? Nothing but a small, hand drawn thumbs up emoji.
Clark: Hey, odd question, but does anyone have parenting experience?
Oliver: no
Barry: I have babysitting experience but not fatherhood
Diana: I was the last child on my island, so no.
Hal: I also only have babysitting experience
Arthur: I'm not a parent yet....I need three more months before my little turtle is here.
Bruce: Yes
JL: ....come again?
Bruce: I have children, so I have parenting experience. Why?
Clark stun: Um well I have a little boy and I needed advice....I'm sorry Batman has kids?
Bruce: I am the proud father of ten
Hal: Ten!?
Bruce: *stoneface* I love them very much. What advice do you need, Superman?
Clark: Er...well Danny is only five but he keeps breaking things around the house.
Bruce: Is it due to his Kryptonian strength?
Clark: No, hes adopted. He's a regular human
Bruce: When he breaks things, is it ussually when he's playing or after a moment of silence?
Barry: Why does that matter?
Bruce: It matters a lot. If its play time he's doing it on accident, but if its after moments of stillness and silence hes doing it on purpose to test Superman's boundaries. Children who are adopted from bad foster homes tend to test boundaries by seeking the punishment they believe will eventually come. He may not be completely settled in Superman's home yet.
Oliver: Oh my god, he is a father....
Clark: Danny is definitely doing it on purpose but I don't think its to test my limits. I think its more scientific curiosity? He tore apart my toaster to make a net launcher for ghosts
Hal: Did it work?
Clark: Yes it did launch a net but it only caught our landlord.
Bruce: So your son is a genius. Lucky for you, I have many children just like that. My third once hacked the Pentagon to place a coffee order in their cafe since I grounded him from the Batcoffee-maker.
Diana: Impressive
Bruce: Thank you. Superman, when Danny breaks things apart, does he ussually intend to use his inventions to fight ghosts?
Clark: Um yes?
Bruce: Excellent. Praise him, but gently explain that you need the items around the house and that you will, instead, take him to buy supplies once a month to build whatever he wants. You can put those expenses on my card. Also, bring the boy over; my genius children would love to meet another weaponsmith.
Clark: Wow! Thank you Batman!
Bruce: Please call me B. My children do.
Oliver: Am I the only one alarmed that B said "another" weaponsmith?
Bruce: It's Batman to you childrenless.
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